Kraken is one of the largest current develop ment projects in the UK North Sea with an anticipated production life of up to 25 years.
The LOIA is intended to allow Bumi Armada to proceed with critical activities and the procurement of long lead items, ahead of the final award, which is expected to be signed before 30 First oil is anticipated in 2016/2017.
Bumi Armada CEO and executive director Hassan Basma said, "The North Sea contains western Europe’s largest oil and natural gas reserves and is one of the world’s key non-OPEC producing regions."
The Kraken field is a large accumulation of heavy oil in the East Shetland basin of the UK North Sea and the field is prone to harsh weather to its exposed location. The Kraken field lies in Block 9 some 350km north east of Aberdeen, Scotland, and 420km west of Stavanger, Norway.
The FPSO will have a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels. The FPSO will be moored by a buoy turret mooring system. The FPSO will be built to strict regulatory guidelines as defined by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and will be classed by DNV.
