Saudi Aramco is expected to soon start the tender process for an engineering, procurement and construction contract involving the further expansion of its Abu Safah offshore oilfield.

Project watchers told Upstream that the Saudi Arabian state oil company is thought to be preparing the tender documents for the Abu Safah job, which is expected to be worth more than $500 million.

“The Abu Safah tender is likely to be issued this month,” one industry source said.

A second source suggested that the brownfield development project comprising the Abu Safah field is among the first projects that could be offered to Aramco’s recently expanded list of long-term agreement (LTA) contractors.

The workscope for Abu Safah is likely to include production deck modules, offshore pipelines and other related offshore infrastructure, one project watcher said.

However, the exact workscope for the offshore project could not be confirmed by Upstream.

Abu Safah is a huge offshore oilfield that is situated near Saudi Arabia’s border with Bahrain. The field’s production and reserves are divided between the two countries, though it is operated on behalf of Bahrain by Aramco.

Aramco is thought to have carried out several expansion phases at the field during the past two decades.

Up to nine leading international EPC players that are now a part of Aramco’s prestigious LTA contracting arrangements are expected to compete for the new offshore contract.

In addition to the five previous players, Aramco recently expanded the list of LTA players by adding four new contractors.

Malaysia’s Sapura Energy, China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC), a pairing of United Arab Emirates-based Lamprell and Dutch player Boskalis, and another grouping of UK-based TechnipFMC and Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering were recently confirmed as the new entrants.

In addition to the four new players, McDermott International and Dynamic Industries of the US, Italy’s Saipem, a partnership of India’s Larsen & Toubro with Oslo-listed Subsea 7 — which last year acquired Emas Chiyoda’s business in Saudi Arabia — and Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company are also expected to compete for the offshore project.

Aramco is thought to be preparing to offer four to five new EPC projects to the expanded list of LTA contractors within the next few months.

While the timeframe for the new offshore brownfield developments could not be confirmed, one source indicated that these jobs are likely to be offered during the first quarter of 2019.

Aramco has aggressive investment plans for its offshore fields, at least for the next few years.

The state-controlled giant is currently carrying out expansion of its Marjan and Berri offshore fields - projects together said to be worth billions of dollars.

In addition, Aramco is expected next year to start a major development involving further development of its Zuluf offshore field.

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Aramco set to fire up Abu Safah contest