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Adnoc extends deadline for Upper Zakum bids

25 May 2023

Adnoc Offshore has given contractors more time to prepare technical bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a project to increase the oil production potential of Abu Dhabi’s largest producing oil asset, the Upper Zakum offshore field, to 1.2 million barrels a day (b/d).

The deadline for submitting technical bids for the EPC works has been extended until 29 May from 18 May. The submission deadline before that was 20 April.

The tender for contract UZ1000 was issued to contractors in late February, MEED previously reported. 

The main work scope involves the EPC of multiple surface facilities and plants at the Upper Zakum offshore development’s four main artificial islands of Al-Ghallan, Umm al-Anbar, Ettouk and Asseifiya – also known as Central Island, West Island, North Island and South Island, respectively.

ALSO READ: Adnoc revisits approach to strategic projects

EPC work on Al-Ghallan Island consists of the following structures:

  • Production, water injection and produced water disposal wells
  • Pre-assembled pipe racks and manifold
  • Gas lift compressor and glycol dehydration unit
  • Water injection plant
  • Produced water treatment package
  • Gas turbine generators
  • Water-winning pump
  • Coarse filtration package
  • Air compressor and dryer package
  • Chemical injection packages
  • Module technical rooms
  • Electrical substation
  • Local equipment room

EPC work on Umm al-Anbar Island consists of the following structures:

  • Booster gas compression package
  • Low-pressure gas cooler
  • Crude oil transfer pumps
  • Water winning pump
  • Coarse filtration package
  • Instrument air compressor and dryer package and receiver
  • Nitrogen generation package and receiver
  • Low-pressure flare gas recovery compressor package
  • Electrical substation
  • Module technical rooms

EPC work on Ettouk Island consists of the following structures:

  • Produced water treatment package
  • New produced water disposal header and disposal wells
  • Produced water disposal pumps

EPC work on Asseifiya Island consists of the following structures:

  • Produced water treatment and re-injection train
  • Produced water booster/disposal and re-injection pumps
  • Electrical substation
Upper Zakum expansion

Located 84 kilometres offshore in Abu Dhabi, the Upper Zakum oil field is the world’s second-largest offshore oil field and the fourth-largest oil field.

Adnoc Offshore initiated the UZ1000 project in 2019, aiming to raise Upper Zakum’s oil production capacity to 1 million b/d by 2024. The goal has now been increased to 1.2 million b/d, according to the project’s EPC tender, with the completion timeline likely to have been extended.

Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas was awarded the contract for the front-end engineering and design works on the UZ1000 project in 2019. UK-headquartered Wood Group was appointed as the project management consultant for the EPC phase.

The UZ1000 project has since been delayed, with sources attributing the slowdown, particularly the delay in Adnoc Offshore issuing the main EPC tender, to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Covid certainly did slow down work on the project from Adnoc’s side. With high oil prices being favourable, and with its accelerated [oil and gas production] targets, Adnoc may want to push this project through,” one source said.

Adnoc Offshore is the offshore arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). Adnoc has committed to a major capital expenditure budget of approximately $30bn, along with its operating partners in the Upper Zakum hydrocarbon concession – Japan Oil Development Company (Jodco) and US-based ExxonMobil. 

The aim is to first raise the asset’s oil output from 640,000 b/d to 750,000 b/d through the UZ750 project, and then eventually to 1 million b/d through the current project.

Erstwhile Zakum Development Company (Zadco), which later merged into Adnoc Offshore, awarded EPC contracts for the UZ750 project in 2012 and early 2013.

The $817m first package was awarded to a consortium of Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and France-based Technip Energies. Package two, the project’s largest EPC package worth $3.7bn, was awarded to a consortium of UK-headquartered Petrofac and South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Engineering.

EPC work on UZ750 began in 2014 and was completed in 2022.

In October 2022, Adnoc Group subsidiary Adnoc Drilling set a world record for drilling the longest oil and gas well, stretching 50,000 feet, at the Upper Zakum concession.

The extended-reach wells will tap into an undeveloped part of the giant Upper Zakum reservoir, potentially increasing the field’s production capacity by 15,000 b/d without expanding or building any new infrastructure, Adnoc claimed.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10881523/main2902.jpg
Indrajit Sen

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