Qatar’s North Oil Company (NOC) is tendering for a major subsea workscope and two floating storage and offloading vessels required for the further development of its Al Shaheen oilfield.

The NOC joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and France's Total recently floated initial enquiries for a subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines package comprising work related to the Al Shaheen field.

In addition, at least a trio of offshore contractors are understood to be battling it out for a separate contract involving the charter of two FSOs.

Those understood to have been invited by NOC to participate in the SURF engineering, procurement, construction and installation tender package include US giant McDermott, London-based TechnipFMC, Italy’s Saipem and Oslo-listed Subsea 7, according to sources.

NOC is currently carrying out a pre-qualification process for the SURF package and tender documents are expected to be issued next month, one market player said.

Project watchers are hopeful that NOC could award the SURF EPCI prize by the first half of 2020.

The SURF contract being offered by NOC is a part of a larger development project named as the “export scheme optimisation (ESO)” that is aimed at simplifying field operations and reducing operating expenditure on the offshore oilfield.

The ESO project envisages the commissioning of two VLCC-converted floaters at the Al Shaheen field near the existing offshore platform B, aimed at optimising the operation of export facilities, sources said.

NOC is understood to be separately carrying out the tender process to charter the two FSOs, with bids likely to be submitted within weeks, sources said.

“The tender process for the two floaters is ongoing and an award is expected by the first quarter of 2020,” a local source confirmed.

At least three leading offshore contractors are believed to be chasing the FSO work.

Those thought to be in the frame for the floater work include Malaysia’s Yinson and MISC and domestic offshore player Milaha Offshore, industry sources said.

In addition, it is believed that some other players could also be in the fray.

One observer also suggested that Dutch contractor Bluewater might be participating, but other sources could not confirm that.

The first FSO will also have an initial processing role, which is in addition to its storage and offloading capabilities.

“The wet crude will be sent to the processing FSO, where oil and water will be separated and the oil’s salt content lowered,” an industry player said.

The first vessel is expected to handle up to 327,000 barrels per day of oil and up to 300,000 bpd of water at its peak.

It is understood that the second floater will be used as a conventional FSO.

The workscope of the SURF package includes the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of of a 24-inch wet oil pipeline running from the A and B platforms to the processing FSO.

In addition, it also includes a water pipeline from the B platform to the processing vessel.

Subsea spools, dry oil flowlines, infield pipelines, subsea structures and various other associated offshore infrastructure is also likely to be involved, sources suggested.

NOC is carrying out several development projects at Al Shaheen as it aims to sustain oil production from the oilfield.

It also aims to ramp up production from the offshore field at a later stage through additional development projects.

In addition to the ESO project, the company is understood to be carrying out the Gallaf development project, which involves at least eight new wellhead platforms and several segments of offshore pipelines.

NOC is working on Gallaf on behalf of the Qatari state-owned giant and is responsible for executing key tenders.

The Gallaf development is being carried out in three stages, with the tendering activity for the second stage believed to be in full swing.

PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) last year won a contract from NOC for platform fabrication work in a deal worth between $300 million and $350 million.

Al Shaheen is Qatar’s largest oilfield and is understood to be producing close to 300,000 bpd of crude.

In 2016, Total took over the operatorship of the offshore field for a 25-year period from Maersk Oil, which it later acquired.

The French giant plans to spend more than $2 billion on development work at Al Shaheen over the next five years, with most of the investments likely to be made on sustaining production from the offshore field.

Qatar Petroleum owns a 70% stake in NOC, with Total holding the remaining 30%.