Petrofac, Faroe and Eni Hewett collaborate to cut North Sea costs

LONDON -- Petrofac, Faroe Petroleum and Eni Hewett have established an innovative cost saving partnership to drive efficiencies and commercial synergies across their UK operations in the Southern North Sea.

The tripartite agreement sees collaboration between Petrofac (Duty Holder) and the respective equity owners and operators of the Hewett, Schooner and Ketch gas fields to share logistics and accommodation services across the facilities. Faroe Petroleum is operator and 60% equity holder in Schooner and Ketch fields, and Eni Hewett is operator and 89% equity holder in the Hewett complex.

Faroe Petroleum has invested in a new variant of NHV’s Augusta Westland 139 helicopter, enabling an increase in passenger numbers and freight capacity, and will share the usage of the helicopter with Eni Hewett. In exchange, offshore personnel contracted to the normally unmanned Schooner and Ketch assets will stay nearby on the Eni Hewett complex rather than returning to shore each day, cutting down travel time and ensuring cost efficient mobilization of personnel. This arrangement also allows for greater flexibility when deploying personnel as Petrofac can mobilize its workforce, as required, across both operations.

This approach will see the partnership deliver significant cost reductions and effectively manage resource mobilization through a collaborative and open commercial arrangement.

“Since taking over operatorship of Schooner and Ketch last year, we have focused on a number of measures across the supply chain designed to improve operational efficiency without compromising safety, which we feel is especially relevant in this new era of low commodity prices,” Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said. “This arrangement is one such innovative measure, which entails the sharing of key services, which will materially reduce offshore operating expenditure, and improve operational efficiency.”

“The challenges we currently face as an industry are unprecedented and require us to constantly think differently and be innovative in the approach we take commercially to operations and engaging our supply chain,” Walter Thain, managing director, Petrofac Offshore Projects and Operations, said. “Reducing the cost of operations in the UKCS is a collective industry responsibility, and we are absolutely committed to playing our part.”