'Technical bids submitted': Players start chase for Adnoc offshore oilfield scheme

A clutch of contractor giants are said to be lining up for a key engineering, procurement and construction contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) for work on the further development of its Umm Al Dalkh offshore field in the Persian Gulf.

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.

Multiple people familiar with the development said technical offers for the project were recently submitted by at least six players.

“Technical bids have been submitted, mostly by local players,” one person confirmed.

While international players such as Petrofac of the UK and Malaysia’s Sapura Energy were also believed to have shown initial interest, they are unlikely to have bid.

Those said to be among the bidders include Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), Target Engineering, Adyard, Fortune Engineering & Energy services and compatriot CAE, a second person said.

However, those names could not be individually confirmed by Upstream.

Egypt’s ENPPI and a few additional local bidders are also said to be in the fray.

Another United Arab Emirates-based player, Valentine Maritime, is expected to team up with one of the interested players for the pipelay work, project watchers said.

Output hike in sight

The Umm Al Dalkh early production scheme aims to ramp up the field’s oil output capacity to 20,000 bpd by 2022 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, one person said.

Full-field development aim

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.