IKM Subsea has been awarded a contract from Statoil for ROV and subsea services for Visund and Snorre B, located offshore Norway.

IKM said on Thursday that the contract has a duration of 10 years firm and the contract value of up to NOK 750 million ($90.4 million) in total for this period. The contract may be extended for a further period of 15 years.

The company added that this will be the first time in history that Statoil and IKM will introduce the so-called concept of Residential ROV (RROV) that represents a permanently subsea-installed ROV system operated from a dedicated operational base positioned onshore.

The contract will combine the use of existing proprietary Merlin ROV technology in combination with RROV technology to be developed throughout this contract.

IKM said that the staffing of the operations will be a combination of traditional offshore crews in symbiosis with an onshore crew operating the company’s control center onshore.

Hans Fjellanger, Business Development Manager at IKM Subsea, said: “We are happy to, jointly with Statoil, be able to present new and revolutionary ROV concepts and technology to the industry, producing potential for significant cost savings.”

Ben Pollard, Managing Director of IKM Subsea, said: “We expect this contract and the subsequent new technology thereof to produce a game-changer to the ROV market segment.”