STX Group announced Friday that its European subsidiary signed a $420 million contract to build to well intervention vessels for Norway’s Eide Marine Services AS.

A well intervention vessel is a ship designed to carry out works related to underwater oil and gas wells ranging from pre-drilling surveys, laying pipes and drilling.

The contract, won by STX Finland, calls for two 122-meter-long vessels with deadweight of 31,000 metric tons to be delivered during 2013.

“The outfitting contract for Eide Marine Services is a very important project for STX Finland. It shows that our strategic plan to expand our product and services portfolio, and to improve our global competitiveness and presence, has been successful,” STX Finland’s chief operating officer Timo Suistio said in statement.

“The project is very challenging both in terms of amount of outfitting work and the management of several global networking entities.”

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)