NPCC wins $744m contract for Abu Dhabi offshore project
ABU DHABI, May 25, 2021
UAE-headquartered National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) said it has won a $744-million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the full field development of the Belbazem Offshore Block in Abu Dhabi.
The contract was awarded by Al Yasat Petroleum Operations Company, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
Located 120 km northwest of Abu Dhabi city, the Belbazem Block consists of three marginal offshore fields; Belbazem, Umm Al Salsal, and Umm Al Dholou.
Adnoc and CNPC hold 60 per cent and 40 per cent stakes in Al Yasat respectively, underpinning the strong bilateral ties and energy partnership between the UAE and China.
The project scope includes three offshore Well Head Towers (WHTs), one in each of the Block’s three fields, interconnecting sub-sea pipelines, and cables to Zirku Island, located around 60 km from Belbazem field.
It also covers the development of greenfield facilities for water injection, produced water treatment, gas compression, and associated utilities as well as brownfield works for tie-in to existing facilities at Zirku Island.
The EPC contract award follows a competitive tender process and will see 65 per cent of the award value flow back into the UAE economy under Adnoc’s In-Country Value (ICV) programme, highlighting how ADNOC continues to prioritize ICV as it delivers its 2030 strategy.
Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, Adnoc Upstream Executive Director, said: "We are very pleased to commence the full field development of the Belbazem Offshore Block, together with our strategic partner CNPC. This award demonstrates our commitment to maximise value from all of Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources for the benefit of the UAE and our partners."
The scope of the award covers EPC and commissioning activities for the offshore facilities required to enable full production capacity of 45,000 bpd of light crude with API gravity of around 35 degrees and 27 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of associated gas from Belbazem, he stated, adding the first oil is expected in 2023.
As part of the process leading up to the EPC award, Al Yasat undertook a front-end engineering design (Feed) competition among the bidders to optimise the project.
This initiative reduced the originally scheduled tender time by up to 12 months by removing the need for the technical bidding process for the EPC stage and has enabled savings of $190 million in capital expenditure (Capex).
On the contract win, CEO Engineer Ahmed Al Dhaheri said: "NPCC is proud to have been chosen by Adnoc’s subsidiary Al Yasat Petroleum to fully develop the offshore Belbazem block. The project supports Adnoc’s push towards maximizing Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources and crude production capacity of 5 million bpd by 2030."
"This partnership will strengthen our ‘Made in the UAE’ value proposition as well as add significant value to the national economy," he stated.
"We will work with the Al Yasat team to deliver the project as per schedule, following all health, safety and environmental standards. Our experience and full-fledged EPC capabilities as well as our proven track-record in delivering complex and large-scale projects are drivers that help us win such mega projects," he added.
Shaheen Al Mansoori, Acting CEO of Al Yasat, said: "The Feed competition and EPC award for the Belbazem Offshore Block highlight Al Yasat’s focus on costs and competitive approach to ensure we can commercially develop our concession areas and deliver long-term and sustainable value for Adnoc and our partner CNPC."
"Al Yasat will continue to drive cost efficiencies as we unlock value from those of Abu Dhabi’s fields which are comparatively smaller and require a lean operating model to optimize their production and value potential," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
