Page 13 - MEOG Week 27 2021

MEOG TENDERS MEOG

Aramco resumes tendering

for Jafurah EPC work

SAUDI ARABIA STATE-OWNED Saudi Aramco is reported to slightly by the $12bn-plus capex reduction Ara-
have resumed a tender process for engineering, mco implemented in Q2 last year, but only by a
procurement and construction (EPC) work on matter of months.
its major project to develop unconventional gas In October, Larsen & Toubro of India, Ita-
from the onshore Jafurah basin. ly-based Saipem, JGC of Japan and the South
Under the preliminary $110bn plans, Ara- Korean firm Hyundai Engineering & Construc-
mco intends to kick off production in early tion were all reported to have submitted tech-
2024 and achieve 2.2bn cubic feet (62mn cubic nical and commercial bids for a ‘compression
metres) per day of sales gas by 2036. It is also package’ covering three gas compression plants
expected to produce around 550,000 barrels per catering to 600 mmcf (17mcm) per day of gas
day (bpd) of NGLs and condensates. and 150,000 bpd of NGLs and condensates.
The first phase is seen producing 1.1 bcf (31 However, the tendering process for surface
mcm) per day of raw gas, which will be pro- facilities was shelved in December as Aramco
cessed at a facility on site. sought to stem the bleeding from ongoing mar-
Aramco announced that it had received reg- ket uncertainty. Now, though, with prices near-
ulatory approval from the Ministry of Energy to ing $80 per barrel, the company is keen to pick
proceed with the expansion of the Kingdom’s up where it left off, and sources familiar with
unconventional gas production capabilities in proceedings told Upstream this week that bids
February 2020. The main focus of the initiative are expected to be submitted for major EPC
is Jafurah, which holds an estimated 200 tril- packages under the field development project
lion cubic feet of gas (5.7 trillion cubic metres), in August.
around half of which is comprised of liquids. The With Riyadh keen to reduce the wasteful
field is Saudi Arabia’s largest deposit of uncon- burning of crude to provide electricity, it appears
ventional gas. that the gas push has not lost momentum despite
While work has been ongoing Jafurah the calamitous oil price war at the start of the
throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan- year and the collapse in demand caused by the
demic, the asset’s timeline has been pushed back COVID-19 pandemic.™

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