The Belfast based shipyard Harland & Wolff has today announced that it has been awarded a £61m base contract to deliver the mid-life upgrade contract of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the MV Sea Rose.

The contract is with Cenovus Energy, an international integrated oil and natural gas company headquartered in Calgary, Canada, with a market capitalisation of circa CA$54bn.

Sea Rose is expected to arrive at the company’s Belfast Yard in early 2024 and will be in the Building Dock for over three months. This will be the second time that Harland & Wolff has welcomed the FSPO vessel to Belfast, the previous visit being in 2012. This recent experience coupled with the ability to apply the latest technologies and innovations to the vessel upgrade helped to win the major contract for the group.

Several pre-arrival works have already commenced in Belfast, these include inspections, procurement of steel, fabrication of customised blocks and other dry dock operations. Further fabrication has begun to ensure the yard is fully prepared to commence refurbishment and upgrade works effectively and efficiently as soon as the vessel arrives next year.

It is expected that 1,000 personnel will be on-site in Belfast, allowing synergy between programmes as Harland & Wolff continues to ramp up to deliver the £1.6bn Fleet Solid Support programme as part of Team Resolute.

John Wood, CEO of Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc, comments: “I am delighted that Cenovus has chosen Harland & Wolff as its preferred yard to undertake the mid-life upgrade of the SeaRose.

This is a significant win within our non-defence portfolio from a global, blue-chip energy group and I am pleased that we are gaining a reputation as a go-to yard for large and complex programmes. With an estimated 1,000 personnel on-site, this project will allow for further synergies in our execution, leveraging off of personnel, skill sets and supply chains that will support the upcoming FSS Programme.”

With a history stretching back over 160 years, today Harland & Wolff is a multisite fabrication company, operating in the maritime and offshore industry. It does this through five markets: commercial, cruise and ferry, defence, energy and renewables and six services: technical services, fabrication and construction, decommissioning, repair and maintenance, in-service support and conversion.

Its Belfast yard is one of Europe’s largest heavy engineering facilities, with deep water access, two of Europe’s largest drydocks, ample quayside and vast fabrication halls. As a result of the acquisition of Harland & Wolff (Appledore) in August 2020, the company has been able to capitalise on opportunities at both ends of the ship-repair and shipbuilding markets where there is significant demand.

In February 2021, the company acquired the assets of two Scottish-based yards along the east and west coasts. Now known as Harland & Wolff (Methil) and Harland & Wolff (Arnish), these facilities will focus on fabrication work within the renewables, energy and defence sectors.

In addition to the four yards, Harland & Wolff also owns the Islandmagee gas storage project, which is expected to provide 25% of the UK’s natural gas storage capacity and to benefit the Northern Irish economy as a whole when completed.