With the doling out of a new drilling platform contract, Norwegian energy company Statoil said development for the giant Johan Sverdrup field is moving swiftly.

For an undisclosed sum, Statoil, acting on behalf of the project consortium, awarded a contract to engineering and construction company Kvaerner Verdal to deliver steel infrastructure needed for the drilling platform at the Johan Sverdrup field.

A Norwegian metal worker in late June started cutting steel for the jacket, the tower support structure, for a riser platform used for Johan Sverdrup. Delivery and installation for the jacket for the drilling platform is slated for early 2018.

"The Johan Sverdrup project activity will rise considerably in the time ahead as we take new steps in the development," Kjetel Digre, Statoil's senior vice president for the Johan Sverdrup development project, said in a statement. "So far, we have awarded several main contracts and equipment packages at a value of more than $5.2 billion."

The first phase of development at the North Sea field will consist of four installations, including living quarters, alongside processing, drilling and riser platforms. Engineering work for the jacket for the drilling platform is under way at Kvaerner Verdal offices in Oslo.

"More contracts will be awarded this autumn," Digre said. "We are on track on the Johan Sverdrup development."

Once in full swing, the field, the fifth largest ever discovered off the Norwegian coast, should account for up to 25 percent of all Norwegian petroleum production.

Peak production is expected to be up to 650,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.