Gas field boost for contractors
Firms in Lancashire and Cumbria are being urged to prepare to bid for a slice of the action as Centrica Energy gears up to develop the East Irish Sea Rhyl gas field in 2011/12.
Rhyl field was discovered one year ago off the coast of Barrow, Cumbria and Lancashire. Centrica is looking to sanction the Rhyl field development with a single well tied in via a 7.43 mile gas export pipeline to the Morecambe North platform and a programme of drilling scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2011, followed by installation of a new pipeline in the second quarter of 2012 with the first gas being delivered to the onshore terminals at Barrow in the third quarter of 2012.
Furness Enterprise said opportunities exist for:
Drilling of three wells
Pipeline and route survey services throughout 2011 and 2012
Building facilities management services for Morecambe Bay
Project support for its East Irish Sea assets
Light well intervention services
Provision of supply and anchor-handling vessels, throughout 2011 and 2012.
Stuart Klosinski of Furness Enterprise said: "2011 could be a good year for Furness firms. Centrica's proposals come on top of those by Dong, REpower UK and Vattenfall to undertake offshore wind construction in the East Irish Sea. The prospects of three drilling wells and the hoped for 2011 approval to develop Rhyl, by seeking tenders for pipelines and subsea control valves in the first half of 2011, so they can lay a pipeline in 2012, adds to Barrow's key role as a part of Britain's Energy Coast where there is a lot happening."
He concluded: "Today we have circulated all the main local firms in south Cumbria involved in oil and gas with early notice of these proposals and who they should contact so that they can start 2011 by bidding before their competitors in other parts of the UK."
