New Norwegian fabrication contract – NF 15

The Norwegian Fabrication Contract (NF) has been updated in a new 2015 version, signed early January.

The Norwegian Fabrication Contract (NF) has now been updated in a new 2015 version, which was signed this week. NF 15 is the Norwegian standard offshore fabrication contract, where Company is responsible for the engineering. NF 15 is in line with revisions of the other Norwegian offshore standard contracts NTK 15 (EPC) and the three different NTK Mod versions effectuated in June and October 2015. This entails that the current round of revisions of the NTK/NF group of offshore contracts has been completed.

In addition to content being revised with similar updates as the NTK standards on the key updates made therein, NF 15 has been revised to opt for arbitration as the dispute resolution mechanism, rather than the previous system of court proceedings.

As described in our earlier articles on the subject of revisions of NTK 15 Mod and NTK 15, the main development in the standard revisions includes:

  • Obligation to utilize the standard contracts has been abandoned
  • Individual negotiations of key terms such as limitation of liability – reduction in standardization
  • Introduction of 21 day deadline in substitution for “without undue delay”
  • Obligation for the Contractor to act upon and implement a specific written instruction from the Company
  • A DVO is deemed issued if the Company has not issued a VO or DVO 21 days after receiving a VO
  • Expanded risk for the Contractor in relation to the Company’s frame agreements
  • Voluntary Project Integrated Mediation has been introduced

For further information on the revisions, please refer to our previous articles on this subject New Norwegian offshore standard contracts – NTK 15 & NTK 15 MOD and New Norwegian Offshore Standard Contracts – NTK 15 MOD or contact us directly. In a similar manner as the firm frequently does for other standard contracts, Haavind is available to hold internal seminars for companies interested in increasing its competence on the topics of NF 15, NTK 15 and NTK 15 Mod.

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