The FSPO “Anna Nery” (image source: yinson.com).
How Norwegian companies can collaborate to fulfill deliveries in international projects
Aragon has been awarded two contracts by the shipowner Yinson Production to design, procure and construct seven modules for gas treatment and compression for the FPSO «Anna Nery”, which will be put into operation offshore Brazil in 2023. The modules compress and treat the gas that is extracted and prepares it for sale. The contracts have a total value of close to one billion Norwegian kroner and Aragon will deliver these seven modules during 2021.
Aragon and Focus Engineering (a part of Focus Group) are collaborating as one team on the engineering work for the modules on the FPSO “Anna Nery“ project.
Focus Engineering is engaged as a partner in detail engineering and will focus on the piping and layout. Focus Engineering is also responsible for the entire 3D model in the project, whereby they prepare 3D modeling of the various modules on behalf of Aragon.
“It is important to emphasize that we are carrying out the engineering work together as one team. We do not see Focus Engineering as a subcontractor when we work with them. Instead, we always talk about “we” since we have a common goal and we must succeed together to meet customer expectations”, states Asle Solbakken, Engineering Manager at Aragon and project engineer for the FPSO “Anna Nery” project.
Seamless interaction
More than 80 employees at Focus Engineering will work with the FPSO “Anna Nery” project. Both employees from Focus Engineering’s head office in Tønsberg, Norway and at the branch office in Qingdao, China are involved in the project. This requires good systems in order to facilitate purposeful interaction:
“Internally at Focus Engineering, we use the CAD program AVEVA E3D. This tool allows everyone involved to work on the same model at the same time from any location and enables everyone to see in real-time what changes have been made. The other tool is Smartsheet which we use for project management and document management. These digital tools promote seamless working even when we are sitting at opposite ends of the globe“, explains Raymond Vestrum who has been Senior Pipe Support Engineer at Focus Engineering since May this year.
Vestrum adds that much of the communication also takes place via Teams, and that they also use video conferencing. This is particularly advantageous both in terms of the large distances involved and due to the forced remote working caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Close digital collaboration
Focus Engineering and Aragon enjoy a close collaboration. The daily communication between the companies takes place by means of automatic updates of the 3D model which takes place every night, as well as online action logs in Smartsheet. In addition, they use Teams, telephone and email. Face-to-face meetings sometimes take place between the project staff from both companies, but this type of communication has become less frequent due to the pandemic. One employee from Aragon works permanently from Focus Engineering’s office in Tønsberg, as well as a layout lead who has his physical workplace at Aragon’s office in Bergen, but who remains in daily contact with the team in order to keep the finger on the pulse.
“We have found a form of collaboration that works well thanks to the excellent digital tools at our disposal. At the start of this project we enjoyed a teambuilding day in Bergen. This proved to be extremely beneficial, since it energized the collaboration and helped everyone get to know each other in person. I miss that we cannot meet face to face in the same way as before, but we solve the technical part of the project effortlessly without any problems“, Solbakken continues. “For the project itself, that is the most important thing“, he adds.
An important project
The FPSO “Anna Nery” project is a large and important project for both Aragon and Focus Engineering:
“With around 50 employees, Aragon is a relatively small company that takes on very large engineering- and construction contracts. Therefore, we are completely dependent on collaborating with companies such as Focus Engineering which enables us to take on such challenging projects with short lead times like this one”, says Asle Solbakken from Aragon.
Tore Bjørkås, CEO of Focus Engineering, adds: «In our eight-year history, this is currently our largest single project. We have collaborated with Aragon before as well. Our companies complement each other in a very good way, and we acknowledge that collaboration offers great opportunities. We work locally and think globally. Thus, we hope to collaborate on many more projects with Aragon in the future“, concludes Tore Bjørkås.
About Aragon
Aragon is an engineering and EPC company headquartered in Bergen, Norway. Aragon specializes in the development and delivery of production facilities for floating offshore installations with the main focus on treatment and compression of natural gas. Aragon is also a pioneer in the development of solutions for liquefied gas offshore and has patented its own technology for this.
About Focus Engineering
Focus Engineering is a part of the Focus Group. The engineering company combines broad experience, creativity and innovation ability, advanced design tools and high engineering standards to efficiently deliver engineering solutions to a global market. Our engineers have experience in detail engineering, fabrication engineering and fabrication follow up from the oil & gas industry, industrial projects and the aquaculture market. Both our head office in Tønsberg, Norway and our branch office in Qingdao, China are staffed with highly dedicated engineers who efficiently provide quality deliverables for all our projects.
Text by Tom Backe | Kaldnes Media
