Atlantis signs up with local partner in Nigeria

Following the successful testing of the first full scale Atlantis deepwater unit in Norway in April, the Atlantis company ADTH (Atlantis Deepwater Technology Holding AS) is now in the process off establishing a local network of partners, in order to increase the marketing efforts and have local presence in what is considered to be the key areas for the first applications of the novel Atlantis technology. The most recent partnership involves the Nigerian independent Jagal Ventures Ltd., part of the Jagal Group, for which a partner agreement was made effective from 12 September 2003. The partnership with Jagal, who also are partners with Subsea 7, Fred.Olsen, Amec and others, will give ADTH access to one of Nigerias most strategic and modern yards, NigerDock in Lagos. Fabrication of the Atlantis structures at NigerDock, which basically involves fabrication of large steel structures of 300 tonnes for single-well Atlantis exploration drilling units, and 700 tonnes structures for three-well field development units, will make it possible to satisfy the increasingly stringent local content requirements for activities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The advantage of indigenous participation and potential very high local content comes in addition to the main advantages with the Atlantis artificial seabed technology, namely the fact that more cost effective and safer exploration and development of the Nigerian deep and ultra deep water fields will be possible, and in particular that several of the marginal deepwater structures can be more economical attractive to develop. The technology makes it possible to use lower-rated shallow/mid-water drilling rigs in deep waters, of which there are, and will continue to be, an oversupply in all geographical regions. Furthermore all subsea equipment and pipelines can be installed in a mild environment at 2-300 meters water depth, regardless of the actual water depth, reducing a number of the challenges (and costs) related to flow assurance in deep waters. The partner agreement with Jagal follows several similar partnerships recently established by ADTH for other areas, in order to be prepared for projects to materialise. In Brazil an agreement with the Schahin Group was formalized in June, while the company Neptune Marine Contractors recently was selected to represent the company in India. In Houston the company Nortech International also has an agreement to promote the technology for US, Canada and Mexico, and it is expected that a set-up for Angola be established in the near future.

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