Aker Energy is ramping up its operations towards the production of first oil and has just awarded a contract for geotechnical and geophysical survey services to Fugro Ghana Ltd for the Pecan field.Field is estimated to hold between 450 to 550 million barrels of oil. Aker Energy is placing emphasis on local content and capacity building as part of the geotechnical and geophysical survey contract to Fugro Ghana Ltd.The shore base for the two ships will be Takoradi in the Western Region. From Fugro, at least one surveyor trainee and one experienced surveyor will be Ghanaian and there will be local sourcing of various materials in Ghana.In addition, a series of educational and capacity building activities will be rolled out through partnerships with Ghanaian educational institutions and the Petroleum Commission of Ghana.“For Aker Energy, this contract is an important next step as we prepare for the ramp-up of the Pecan project,” says Olav Henriksen, Senior Vice President for Projects in Aker Energy.“We are both eager and excited to get started and Fugro’s services are world-class, making them a natural choice to partner with.”The contract involves surveying services from two state-of-the-art vessels for a 10-week period, starting in March, as well as laboratory testing post operations.The geotechnical vessel, Fugro Scout, is specifically designed for geotechnical operations in water depths up to 3,000 metres for both drilling and seabed sampling and in situ testing.The aim of the surveys is to obtain critical information about seabed and sub-seabed conditions to facilitate the planning and emplacement of the Pecan subsea field and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) ship.“This project will build on the extensive experience that our vessels and staff have gained in Ghana and the wider West Africa region, and we look forward to using this knowledge to execute a safe and successful campaign,” said Jaco Stemmet, Fugro’s Director for Africa.