Five leading engineering, procurement and construction players are said to be battling it out for a prized offshore contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) for work on the further development of its Umm Al Dalkh field in the Persian Gulf.

At least three people with direct knowledge of the tender process said that commercial offers were recently submitted by up to five players and the Emirati state-owned giant is expected to award the job during the first quarter of this year.

Those said to have submitted price bids include Abu Dhabi’s Target Engineering, Fortune Engineering & Energy services, National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), and compatriot CAE.

In addition, a consortium of Italy’s Rosetti Marino and Middle East player Ali & Sons is also believed to have bid, one person said.

The Umm Al Dalkh offshore contract was expected to be awarded last year, but its tender process got delayed by a few months due to the coronavirus outbreak and uncertain economic environment.

Expansion plans

While the project is a relatively modest development, the job is of strategic importance to Abu Dhabi, which aims to ramp up its oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day by 2030.

The Emirate presently has a production capacity of 4 million bpd, but is pumping much below its installed capacity due to the Opec+ production cuts.

Abu Dhabi has taken a cautious approach to offshore oil developments while maintaining that its capacity expansion plans are intact despite the industry downturn.

Workscope details

The Umm Al Dalkh early production scheme aims to ramp up the field’s oil output capacity to 20,000 bpd by next year and sustain this level for three years.

The field is currently producing about 15,000 bpd from the existing offshore infrastructure.

The additional production is likely to involve the drilling of three producer wells and two water-injector wells at wellhead platform-15 (WHP-15), another person said.

The project’s scope involves the supply of treated water from the central processing facility to WHP-15 by laying an eight-inch-diameter subsea pipeline.

In addition, it includes two new water-injection wells and three new oil producers, with associated topsides modifications at WHP-15.

Replacement of an existing four-inch water-injection manifold and a new eight-inch water-injection manifold at WHP-5 are also included.

The preferred EPC contractor will be responsible for setting up several other associated offshore facilities that are a part of the early production scheme, a third person said.

Full-scale development in pipeline

Adnoc aims to carry out full development of the offshore field at a later stage to sustain its oil production capacity of 20,000 bpd until 2032.

The Umm Al Dalkh field is located 25 kilometres north-west of Abu Dhabi.

Its existing offshore facilities involve seven oil-producing platforms, eight water-injection platforms and a central processing complex along with subsea pipelines and cables.

Abu Dhabi is carrying out the tender process for billions of dollars worth of oil and gas developments, but most of the tenders have been delayed by several months, as Adnoc is looking at optimising key developments in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and low commodity prices.

Field Development

Five in frame for key Abu Dhabi offshore oilfield contract