New contract for PSN creates up to 70 jobs in Aberdeen

 

© The Herald Originally published: 27/7/2010

Shell has awarded a major contract  to  Aberdeen-based energy services company PSN for work on the Brent oil and gas field in the UK North Sea. The move by Shell will create 70 new jobs in the Aberdeen area.

The contract award is for the decommissioning services on the Brent Delta platform topsides. PSN will provide services including integrity management; module, process and utility separation; safe shutdown; hydrocarbon cleaning; disconnections and preparation for removal of the topsides.

In the first instance PSN will be creating up to 70 new positions as it builds its onshore management and engineering team to service the decommissioning contract. Around 700 people currently work on the Brent platforms and a similar number will be needed offshore during the decommissioning.

Offshore work is expected to begin around late 2011 as part of the initial stages of Brent Delta decommissioning.

Peter Brown, UK managing director of PSN said: “The award of this contract reflects the strength of our ability to provide Shell with proven decommissioning expertise. It also underlines our ability to support operators across the full spectrum of brownfield services.

“Building on the existing skills and offshore expertise in the North Sea region, we are confident the contract will provide a significant number of new job opportunities in the decommissioning services sector.  It will also position Aberdeen as a global centre of excellence for offshore decommissioning.”

PSN, which currently has a worldwide workforce of more than 8,000, has been involved in several other North Sea decommissioning projects since the 1990s.