FEED Job for Barents Sea FPSO Topsides Goes to Aibel

October 22, 2026 · 8 hours ago

Equinor has booked Aibel for its oil project's topsides engineering study as partners eye a concept selection by late 2026.

Equinor, Norway’s state-owned energy giant, has entrusted Aibel, a compatriot energy services company, with a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the topsides of a production vessel destined for an oil project in the Barents Sea.

The contract award for front-end engineering and design of the Wisting production vessel’s topsides was handed out to Aibel following a competitive tender involving Norwegian suppliers.

This deal covers front-end engineering and further maturation of the design to provide a basis for a decision on project execution, with an option for engineering, procurement, and project management (EPma).

The partnership, encompassing Equinor (42.5%, operator), Aker BP (27.5%), Petoro (20%), and INPEX Idemitsu Norge (10%), plans to do a concept selection and decide whether to progress Wisting towards the end of 2026, with the final investment decision (FID) planned for late 2027.

Mads Andersen, Aibel’s President and CEO, commented: "This is a very important contract for us, particularly in terms of maintaining our centres of expertise following a period in which we have recently completed major deliveries both to the Norwegian Continental Shelf and to European offshore wind projects.

“The Wisting development has the potential to become a major new-build project that will be of great importance to Norwegian supplier industry.”