This is the new Ekofisk hotel

The new Ekofisk centre will have 552 one-man cabins . The new building will also have an airport on the roof, with an estimated 50 daily arrivals and departures by helicopter, two hangars for both permanently stationed helicopters, 10 freefall lifeboats hanging ready for use underneath the hotel , and a field centre for communications and ocean equipment. All of this is to be built and assembled at the huge and populous SMOE yard in Singapore.

1,100 people involved in the construction work with at least seven different languages work in +30 Celsius at the yard. The steel constructions are very obvious following one year’s work. The field centre itself constitutes the largest part. Bridge links and bridges that will connect to the new field centre are being built here too.

Water and warmth

Heavy rain showers, humid air, and quite fierce heat cause problems for those working outside. The welding halls are designed to protect from the heat and rain.

Owner-builder ConocoPhillips has a 100-man strong organisation in place to follow the construction work. Approximately half of them are Norwegian and come from ConocoPhillips in Tananger. Aftenbladet believes the organisation may be significantly expanded in the future to include 150 people in all.

“You have to follow up the work closely,” says project director Mark Miller, who has long experience of heading projects in Norway and worldwide.

How is it progressing? Will it be ready according to plan?

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“Progress is always a major challenge in such comprehensive projects as these and demands tight follow-ups,” says Millar. He adds the project will be completed on time according to plan, however.

A spanner in the works

Meanwhile, it has been revealed to Aftenblad that SMOE is slightly behind schedule. Delays have been caused primarily by unfinished working plans with detailed engineering work not keeping pace with actual production. This engineering work is SMOE’s responsibility. Other engineering companies have been assisting and offered to take over parts of the work if necessary . ConocoPhillips compensates with its own considerably-sized onsite team if this is not sufficient.

Oslo-based engineering company Markus has carried out the work tailoring construction plans to Norwegian requirements (Norsok). Nevertheless, detailed shaping of working plans is SMOE yard staff’s responsibility.

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Culture and language

The project director says the work carried out at the yard is of a high standard.

“There are few welding faults. The painting work is also good,” says Miller, though he goes on to say language and culture can be a major challenge.

“The supervisors can speak English, but the shop floor operators have little knowledge of the language. They come from many different countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, in addition to Singapore. People from cultures in this part of the world would rather take orders. Our thinking aloud can be perceived by others as orders, and is carried out accordingly,” says Miller.

Costs and pay

A decisive factor for locating this type of assignment in Singapore is, lower hourly pay rates, leading to decreased total construction cost, in principle. A well-paid supervisor earns 4,000 Singaporean Dollars-a- month; hardly 20,000 kroner. A normal shop floor salary is approximately half that.

Accommodation for the many visiting yard workers is also basic. It has been revealed to Aftenbladet that this often means eight or ten-man rooms. The workday is 8½ hours, with half Saturdays and all of Sunday free.

Norwegian deliveries

All the same, the contract with SMO is worth nearly 2.5 billion kroner. Between 35 and 40 percent of this is payment for deliveries of Norwegian equipment, for example the Umoe Schaft Harding freefall lifeboats. Moreover, STX in Finland will be building the cabins, and a Danish company has the contract for delivering the entire communications equipment.

All the equipment will be top-notch. To the wonderment of local contractors and subcontractors, who have been mainly accustomed to using carbon steel, the same applies to the steel in many  of the rust-free titanium piping systems,.

Non-aluminium

“Neverthelss, the Ekofisk centre should last for at least 40 years. It should be quality-built,” says Mark Miller.

Some are still surprised steel is utilised for the actual hotel  building, however. Aluminium has been the standard on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) for the last 20 years. Apply Leirvik on Stord has built most of the living quarters for the NCS. The company made an offer for the Ekofisk construction contract, together with Aker, but lost the tender. Apply Lervik’s Managing Director, Lars Solberg, says the price-difference was significant. He points out, amongst other things, that aluminium is more expensive to build with. Nonetheless it is maintenance-free, which means it is more environmentally friendly.

“Steel has to be sandblasted and painted again after four to six years,” he says.

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