Aberdeen-based global engineering group Wood plc said on Tuesday it entered into a new agreement with Spirit Energy “to partner on the delivery of late life solutions for the Morecambe Bay gas fields, one of the UK’s largest gas accumulations.”

Wood said the five-year contract valued at $130 million will see it leverage its experience and capability “in late life asset optimisation and management to extend field life, lower costs, and reduce late life carbon intensity across the Hub’s offshore assets in the East Irish Sea and the Barrow onshore gas terminal on the northwest coast of England.”

Wood shares fell more than 5%.

Craig Shanaghey, Wood’s President of Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “I am delighted to be able to announce our new partnership with Spirit Energy which will see Wood apply our decades of experience in intelligent operations, maintenance and integrity solutions to deliver a sustainable next chapter for the field.

“Our shared ambition is to leverage the greatest value from the Morecambe Hub in its late life phase, by focusing on driving down operational costs and creating opportunities to extend field life.”

John Cowie, Morecambe Hub Asset Director at Spirit Energy, said: “The Morecambe Hub has produced gas for the UK for more than 30 years, and remains a key asset in our portfolio as we continue to maximise economic recovery from the area.

“There is still more we can do to extend Morecambe’s field life while reducing its emissions and contribute to the UK’s Net Zero targets, and we look forward to working with Wood on both of these goals.”

The contract will employ 130 people across the offshore assets and onshore terminal and a small support team in Aberdeen.