Languages

ENI chose Korean Hyundai for Goliat

The Norwegian company Aker Solutions had hoped for the contract on developing the rig for the Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea. However, ENI decided on the Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Location

The contract which Hyundai Heavy Industries now has won is to construct a floating unit for oil production at the Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea. The contract size is approximately 900 million EUR.

– Based on thoroughly evaluations of both technical and commercial criteria, we chose the most competitive offer. The contract was awarded through a tender invitation according to the Norwegian and International regulations for signing such contracts, ENI writes in a press release.

The management of Aker Solutions is very disappointed that they lost the contract for the Korean company. More than 7.000 man-labour years would have been engaged in the project for Aker Solutions, divided on three different locations in southern Norway.

– The price difference between our offer and the contract signed by the Korean company is so huge, that we would be able to compete on that offer even if we did all the work for free. We are talking about more than 400 million EUR in difference between the offers and it cannot solely be explained by the Norwegian price level, says Atle Teigland in Aker Solutions.

Teigland is arguing that Norway in the future should be better able to control which company is awarded contracts like this. According to Teigland, Norway is one of few countries in the world which don’t require advantages for national companies on such tender invitations.