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Frontrunners emerge for $6bn Zuluf offshore field expansion

23 July 2025

Frontrunners have emerged to win contracts from Saudi Aramco for four tenders related to the further expansion of the Zuluf offshore field development in Saudi Arabia.

The four tenders are numbers 145, 146, 147 and 148 on Aramco’s Contracts Release and Purchase Order (CRPO) system, and their combined value is estimated to be around $5.8bn, MEED previously reported.

These four CRPOs involve the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of multiple structures at the Zuluf field to maintain and raise its long-term oil and gas production potential.

UK-based Subsea7, Saudi Arabia and UAE-based Lamprell, and Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH), a subsidiary of India’s Larsen & Toubro, are leading the race to win the four CRPOs that comprise the Zuluf offshore field development expansion project, sources told MEED.

The scope of EPCI work on the four CRPOs, their estimated values, and the frontrunners for each are as follows:

CRPO 145 – $1.6bn – L&TEH:

  • Installation of eight slipover jackets
  • Installation of eight slipover decks
  • Demolition and installation of a production deck module (PDM)
  • Upgrade of an auxiliary platform with two modular jacket platforms
  • Installation of 11 subsea cables spanning 70 kilometres (km)
  • Installation of 20km of subsea pipelines, including eight flexible pipelines spread across 15km and one rigid pipeline stretching 5km

CRPO 146 – $1.5bn – Subsea7:

  • Installation of seven slipover jackets
  • Installation of seven production deck modules
  • Installation of one tie-in platform
  • Installation of nine subsea cables
  • Associated pipelines
  • Brownfield work – conversion of PDMs to observation decks

CRPO 147 – $1.5bn – Lamprell:

  • Installation of seven slipover jackets
  • Installation of seven production deck modules
  • Installation of one tie-in platform
  • Installation of 10 subsea cables covering 40km, including five rigid pipelines of 4km each and five flexible pipelines of 4km each
  • Associated pipelines

CRPO 148 – $1.2bn – Subsea7:

  • Installation of pipelines, in diameters of 8 inches, 30 inches and 36 inches, and offshore to onshore 48-inch trunkline, spanning a total distance of 110km
  • Installation of two subsea cables, spread over 15km
  • Dredging works across 18km

Aramco did not respond to MEED’s request for confirmation and/or comment on the above information.

Aramco issued CRPOs 145, 146, 147 and 148 to its Long-Term Agreement (LTA) pool of offshore contractors on 19 May 2024, MEED previously reported.

LTA contractors submitted technical bids and associated In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) credentials for the four CRPOs by the deadline of 19 December last year. Commercial bids for the tenders were submitted by 14 January.

CRPO 145 is the latest version of CRPO 134. MEED reported in April last year that Aramco had cancelled the bidding process for CRPO 134, and was due to reissue the tender in future.

The Saudi energy giant was earlier expected to award the EPCI contracts for CRPOs 145, 146, 147 and 148 in June.

According to sources, the following LTA contractors submitted bids for the four CRPOs:

  • Saipem (Italy)
  • McDermott International (US)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • Subsea7
  • NMDC Energy (UAE)
  • Lamprell (UAE/Saudi Arabia)

McDermott has, however, not submitted bids for CRPO 148, MEED previously reported.

ALSO READ: Aramco selects contractors for several offshore tenders
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Indrajit Sen

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