SAUDI Aramco has awarded Italian contractor Saipem a pair of deals covering a raft of jackets for mainly shallow-water field developments off Saudi Arabia, writes Eoin O'Cinneide.

The offshore contracts include the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of 19 jackets as well as a trunklines and installation contract for the Safaniyah, Zuluf, Hasbah, Berri and Marjan fields.

Saipem was awarded the contracts under the coveted Long Term Agreements (LTA) deals renewed in 2015 with it and other select contractors.

Upstream reported in early May that Saipem was on the verge of landing two Aramco offshore tenders covering the 19 platform jackets. One tender was for 10 jackets, with the second for nine.

Saipem did not disclose the value of the Aramco contracts, bundling them with other deals that together totaled around $500 million. The Aramco bid process for both projects was initiated in January and technical and commercial offers were submitted to the Saudi player a month later.

Contenders for the work included other LTA awardees including US-based contractors McDermott International and Dynamic Industries, a partnership of India’s Larsen & Toubro with Singapore’s financially troubled Emas and Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

Saipem also won an extension from Angolan state-owned Sonangol to a lease-and-operate contract for its Gimboa floating production, storage and offloading vessel in Block 4/05.

The firm three-year deal includes management and maintenance services, personnel, material and consumables and has a one-year extension option.

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Saipem confirms major LTA order from Aramco