Italy-based oil company Eni’s Norwegian business has signed up “round-rig” maker Sevan Marine to a contract for work beyond the front-end engineering of the floating production storage and offloading vessel, or FPSO, that’ll serve the Goliat oilfield, the offshore oil project in the Barents Sea.

Sevan will earn NOK150 million ($23.1 million) for seven months of work to September 2009, it was understood Thursday.

But under a separate agreement, Sevan is expecte to earn far more when granting a license to the oil company for the use of the Sevan 1000 FPSO design.

Sevan has hitherto taken on much financial risk building, owning and operating its innovative floating units. The company now has four cylindrical-shaped FPSOs and three drilling units contracted to clients, and a liquefied natural gas production and power plant with CO2 capture is in the works.

Norway’s Parliament, which has never said no to an oilfield development, is expected to ratify the development my mid-2009, although some opposition is still expected from the country’s Greens, some of which find support in the ruling “Red-Green” coalition.

Tags: Eni Norge AS, Goliat, Sevan Marine