A consortium of two companies is understood to have emerged as the front runner for work on the fifth development phase of Qatar Petroleum’s Idd Al Shargi North Dome (ISND) oilfield in the Persian Gulf.

The pairing said to be at the front of the queue for the job is comprised of Qatar Engineering & Construction Company (QCon) and Italy’s Saipem.

Project observers said the grouping of Qcon and Saipem is “well placed” for the ISND-5 offshore contract, pipping several other leading offshore players.

“Qcon is likely to carry out the work on ISND-5,” a source from a local Qatari yard told Upstream.

However, another source indicated that the project is yet to be awarded by Qatar Petroleum (QP).

In addition to the Qcon and Saipem grouping, US giant McDermott International, Malaysia’s Sapura Energy and Indian Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were also thought to have submitted technical and commercial offers for the offshore project.

China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (COOEC) and Vietnam’s PTSC were also among the interested players during the initial stage, but did not submit their final offer, sources suggested.

While the ISND-5 workscope offered in this recent tender is understood to be relatively modest in scale, QP wants to add five to six new wellhead platforms on the ISND field, with the balance of the work likely to be tendered at a later stage.

The workscope of the ISND-5 project currently tendered includes a remotely-controlled wellhead platform — WHP-U08C — to be installed about 1.1 kilometres from the existing PS-1 complex.

In addition, subsea pipelines from the envisaged WHP to the PS-1 complex are also likely to be included.

WHP-U08C is expected to be a four-legged structure with 16 slots and will be installed in about 33 metres of water.

QP is moving ahead on the further development of ISND, which is crucial to its strategy to maintain the field’s production profile beyond this year.

One source said QP is understood to be preparing another offshore tender related to the ISND-5 offshore infrastructure that is likely to be tendered within weeks. However, the workscope of the new tender could not be confirmed by Upstream.

The Qatari giant said last year it would take over the licence to operate the ISND field when the existing contract held by US player Occidental Petroleum expires in October this year. QP’s move to initiate tender activities at ISND indicates that the state-owned player has already started taking control of the key offshore asset and is expected to offer more ISDN-related opportunities to the supply chain over the next few years.

The existing ISND oil production facilities include a bridge-linked production station, PS-1, together with several remote wellhead platforms. These WHPs are unmanned platforms with three or four-legged jackets supporting conductors, risers and associated topsides facilities.

Occidental had earlier floated two tenders in 2017 for the fifth phase of ISND, involving subsea and platform packages that were later cancelled. ISND was discovered in 1961 and originally started production in 1963.

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Pairing in lead for fifth phase at ISND off Qatar