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Aramco selects contractor for offshore jackets tender

9 April 2026

 

Saudi Aramco has selected the main contractor for a tender covering engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of multiple structures at Saudi Arabia’s offshore oil and gas fields.

The scope of work under tender number 161 on Aramco’s Contract Release and Purchase Order (CRPO) system broadly covers the EPCI of four gas jackets at the Arabiyah, Hasbah and Karan offshore fields.

State-owned China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) has won CRPO 161, according to sources, who added that Aramco’s official contract award is pending.

Aramco issued CRPO 161 to offshore contractors in its Long-Term Agreement (LTA) pool on 1 June, MEED previously reported. Offshore LTA contractors submitted bids for CRPO 161 on 27 August. Aramco initially set the bid submission deadline for 29 July, which was later extended to 20 August and then to 27 August, according to sources.

MEED reported in October that US-based McDermott International had submitted the lowest bid for CRPO 161 based on Aramco’s initial evaluation of bids, adding at the time that there was no certainty the American contractor would win the job.

Offshore contract awards galore

Aramco spent almost $11bn on offshore EPCI contracts last year, which is more than double its capital expenditure on offshore projects in 2024, marking yet another year of robust upstream project spending in Saudi Arabia.

In July, Aramco selected contractors for five CRPOs – numbers 150, 157, 158, 159 and 160 – worth over $3bn. These involve EPCI work and infrastructure upgrades at the Abu Safah, Berri, Manifa, Marjan and Zuluf offshore fields.

The Saudi energy giant then picked contractors for four more CRPOs that are part of the large-scale project to expand infrastructure at the Zuluf offshore field development. The tenders are CRPOs 145, 146, 147 and 148, and their combined value is estimated to be almost $6bn.

In late December last year, Italian contractor Saipem announced securing contracts for CRPOs 162 and 165. The scope of work on CRPO 162 covers the EPCI of two rigid pipelines – a 30-inch pipeline stretching 23.98km, and a 20-inch pipeline, 10.23km-long; replacement of a flexible 10-inch pipeline that spans 5.1km; along with modification work on topsides at the Berri and Abu Safah field developments. The duration of this contract is 32 months, Saipem said.

The scope of work on CRPO 165, lasting 12 months, includes subsea interventions at the Marjan field development and the EPCI of 300 metres of onshore pipeline and associated tie-ins.

MEED reported in early January this year that Aramco had selected US-based McDermott International for CRPO 166. The scope of work is understood to have been carved out of the major $15bn Marjan offshore field development project, as part of which Aramco issued contracts for 20 EPCI packages in 2019. McDermott won the largest share of work on the project, with an estimated $4.5bn-worth of contracts secured for two packages.

The contract for CRPO 166 was single-sourced to McDermott without a competitive tendering process, and issued as a change order, sources told MEED.

Aramco then awarded its second offshore contract of this year in the form of CRPO 156 to Saipem. The scope of work on the contract covers the EPCI of a 48-inch trunkline, covering a distance of roughly 65km offshore and 12km onshore, from the Safaniya offshore oil field to the onshore processing facility, plus associated structures such as subsea hook-ups.

CRPO 156 comprises the third package in Aramco’s latest expansion phase at Safaniya – the world’s largest offshore oil field, with a production capacity of nearly 1.2 million barrels a day (b/d). Discovered in 1951, the field is located in the Gulf waters, approximately 265 kilometres north of Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran.

MEED also recently reported that Saipem was selected by Aramco for two more tenders as part of the Safaniya field development expansion phase – CRPOs 154 and 155. The combined contract value for CRPOs 154 and 155 is estimated at $600m, as per sources.

Healthy contract award pipeline

Looking ahead, Aramco is evaluating bids it received from its offshore LTA contractors in July and August for at least two more tenders.

These tenders are CRPOs 163 and 164, relating to the EPCI of key infrastructure at the Abu Safah, Berri, Karan, Marjan and Safaniya fields.

Moreover, MEED reported in January that Aramco had issued a new batch of five offshore tenders covering the EPCI of key structures at the Abu Safah, Berri, Manifa, Marjan and Zuluf fields, which are CRPOs 167, 168, 169, 170 and 171.

Aramco issued the five CRPOs to its offshore LTA contractors in December, initially setting a bid submission deadline of 3 February, which it later extended until 31 March, and then further until 1 June.

Aramco’s LTA pool of offshore service providers comprises the following entities:

  • Saipem (Italy)
  • McDermott International (US)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (LTEH, India) / Subsea7 (UK)
  • NMDC Energy (UAE)
  • Lamprell (UAE/Saudi Arabia)
  • China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (China)
  • Dynamic Industries (US)
  • Sapura Energy (Malaysia)
  • TechnipFMC (France) / MMHE (Malaysia)
  • Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)

Aramco renewed its LTAs last April with the following contractors, whose contracts had either lapsed or were close to expiry:

  • Saipem
  • McDermott International
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon / Subsea7
  • NMDC Energy
  • Lamprell
  • China Offshore Oil Engineering Company
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16322580/main5205.jpg
Indrajit Sen

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