Page 5 - MEOG Week 36
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MEOG Commentary MEOG
as it seeks to expand upstream production capabilities.
This week, Oslo-listed Subsea 7 announced that it had been awarded work under highly attractive long-term agreements (LTAs), of which it is a signatory in consortium with India’s Larsen & Toubro.
The deal entails engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) for 28 jack- ets, of which eight new jackets will be installed in the Marjan and Zuluf fields, 10 are for the Safan- iya and Zuluf fields and a further 10 for the Zuluf and Ribyan fields. The contract also includes scope for a pipeline decommissioning for Safa- niya and Zuluf.
Subsea 7 said that the work would begin immediately, with offshore execution to come in 2020, noting that the contract was worth $50- 150mn net to the Norwegian firm.
Meanwhile, Upstream reported this week that several EPC contractors were likely to com- pete for a multi-billion dollar deal to expand the Uthmaniyah and Shedgum gas plants. It quoted sources as saying that pre-qualified EPC con- tractors had already received tender documents, with LTA signatories likely to be involved.
The original group of Aramco’s LTA contrac- tors was made up of dynamic Industries and Mcdermott, both of the US, L&T with Subsea 7, Abu dhabi state-backed National Petroleum Construction Co. (NNPC) and Saipem. how- ever, after a lengthy bidding process, COOEC, UAE-based Lamprell with Boskalis of the Netherlands, Malaysia’s Sapura Energy, and UK-based TechnipFMC with Malaysia Marine & heavy Engineering were brought into the LTA stable in december 2018.
A pilot carbon capture, utilisation and seques- tration (CCUS) project was launched involving
Uthmaniyah in 2015, capturing 401.5bn cubic metres per year of waste CO2 from the hawiyah natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery plant at the Ghawar oilfield for high-pressure injection into reservoirs at the Uthmaniyah production zone.
EPC players were also reported to be com- peting for work to develop the Jafurah gas plant in another multi-billion dollar deal. Jarufah is seen as one of the kingdom’s most promising for unconventional gas, and is the subject of a contract involving Canada’s SNC Lavalin, which completed the landmark EPC contract on Ara- mco’s maiden tight gas development project at Turaif in the Northern Borders region.
The Turaif project is designed to produce around 2 bcm per year for use at the nearby Waad al-Shamal industrial city.
In November, CEO Amin Nasser stated Ara- mco’s intent to invest some $150bn over the next decade to raise gas output from around 145 bcm per year at present to 238 bcm and potentially become an exporter of the resource, noting the intensifying focus on unconventional reserves.
To achieve this and Aramco’s target of increasing oil production capacity, major con- tracting opportunities will continue to arise, irrespective of governmental shuffling.
Prince Abdulaziz speaks during the World Energy Council on September 9.
Week 36 10•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
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