meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Region to continue robust spending on oil and gas

29 December 2024

 

The upstream oil and gas industry in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region recorded more than $53bn of capital expenditure (capex) on oil and gas production projects in 2023. 

It was forecast that the sector might never repeat that level of spending on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, especially with hydrocarbons producers striving to achieve their net-zero carbon emissions goals and broader sustainability commitments.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) led capex on Mena production projects in 2023, largely due to its $17bn spending on the Hail and Ghasha offshore sour gas development project.

Saudi Aramco was the second-largest spender in the region in 2023, on the back of the estimated $10bn-worth of EPC contracts it awarded for the second expansion phase of its Jafurah unconventional gas development. It also maintained spending on offshore field upgrade works, awarding about $5.3bn-worth of engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contracts.

Yet upstream project spending in 2024 year-to-date has surpassed 2023’s level, with Mena hydrocarbons producers collectively spending more than $58bn on oil and gas production capacity maintenance and expansion projects.

Record year

Iran emerged as the largest spender in the Mena upstream sector in 2024, with the country’s capex exceeding $22bn. State-owned Pars Oil & Gas Company spent $20bn on EPC contracts in March, on a project to boost gas output capacity at the South Pars field.

Iran shares the South Pars field with Qatar, where it is known as North Field. The natural gas reserve in the Gulf’s waters is estimated to hold 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas and 50 billion barrels of condensates.

Pars Oil & Gas Company aims to produce 90 trillion cubic feet of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensates from the latest expansion phase of the South Pars field development. The company expects to generate $900bn in total revenues from the expansion project.

Qatar was the second-largest spender in the region in 2024, with state enterprise QatarEnergy advancing its North Field production sustainability (NFPS) project, which aims to support its liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion programme with gas feedstock.

QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of QatarEnergy, awarded Italian contractor Saipem an estimated $4bn EPCI contract in September as part of the second phase of its NFPS project.

Saipem was awarded two packages, the scope of which encompasses EPCI work on a total of six platforms, approximately 100 kilometres (km) of corrosion resistance alloy rigid subsea pipelines of 28-inches and 24-inches diameter, 100km of subsea composite cables, 150km of fibre optic cables and several other subsea units.

Separately, in January, Qatar’s North Oil Company awarded $6bn-worth of contracts for four engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning packages on a project to increase oil production from its Al-Shaheen offshore oil field by about 100,000 barrels a day (b/d).

The project, known as Ruya, is the third capacity-expansion phase of the Al-Shaheen oil field, which has a production potential of 300,000 b/d at present. North Oil Company – a joint venture of QatarEnergy (70%) and France’s TotalEnergies (30%), which has been the operator of Al-Shaheen since July 2017 – aims to increase the field’s output through the Ruya project.

Saudi offshore spending

In late January 2024, the Saudi Energy Ministry directed Aramco to abandon its campaign to expand its oil production spare capacity from 12 million b/d to 13 million b/d by 2027. As a consequence, Aramco cancelled the tendering process for at least 15 tenders involving the EPCI of structures at offshore oil and gas fields.

Since that decision, however, Aramco has gone the other way, spending an estimated $4.5bn in 2024 on offshore EPCI contracts, known in the Aramco ecosystem as CRPOs. 

Saipem has been the biggest beneficiary of Aramco’s offshore spending, winning all of the CRPOs awarded in 2024. In early May, Aramco awarded the contractor CRPO 143, which involves replacing an oil line between the Berri and Manifa oil fields in the kingdom’s Gulf waters.

Aramco then awarded Saipem the contract for CRPO 138, which involves laying a trunkline at the Abu Safah offshore field. The contract is estimated to be worth $500m. 

The firm then scooped three major CRPOs in August, starting with CRPOs 132 and 139, the combined value of which is estimated to be about $1bn. In early September, Saipem began work on the two contracts, which involve the EPCI of structures to upgrade the Marjan, Zuluf and Safaniya offshore field developments.

Just days later, Aramco awarded Saipem CRPO 127, a $2bn contract that involves EPCI of topsides and jackets for wellhead platforms, a tie-in platform jacket and topside, rigid flowlines, submarine composite cables and fibre optic cables at the Marjan oil and gas field.

Jafurah development

Aramco has also made swift progress in 2024 on successive expansion phases of its programme to produce and process gas from the Jafurah unconventional development in Saudi Arabia. Spending on the Jafurah expansion projects, along with offshore contracts, helped to make the kingdom the third-biggest upstream spender in the Mena region.

Aramco awarded contracts on 30 June for the Jafurah second expansion phase, which aims to raise processing potential to up to 2 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of raw gas. Aramco awarded 16 contracts, worth about $12.4bn, for EPC works and drilling services for the second expansion phase.

Within weeks of those awards, a consortium of Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas and China’s Sinopec Group announced that it had been selected by Aramco to carry out EPC works on the third expansion phase at Jafurah, worth $2.24bn. The EPC scope mainly covers building three gas compression plants, each capable of processing 200 million cf/d. Aramco officially awarded the contract to the Tecnicas Reunidas/Sinopec consortium in late September.

Capex to hold steady

While the Mena upstream oil and gas industry may not be able to match its 2024 level of project capex in 2025, the sector is expected to maintain a robust level of spending, especially with national energy companies striving to achieve their strategic long-term oil and gas production capacity goals before the end of the decade.

Data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects suggests that the Mena upstream sector could invest about $40bn on projects in 2025, with gas output expansion schemes predicted to dominate spending.

In line with its target to increase gas production by 60% by 2030, with 2021 as its baseline, Aramco is on course to further advance its Jafurah unconventional gas production programme. It issued the main EPC tender for the fourth expansion phase of the programme in July, within days of selecting the main contractors for the third phase.

Contractors are preparing bids for the project, the scope of which is similar to that of the third expansion phase, and which is therefore understood to be valued at $2.5bn.

Saudi Arabia’s spending on offshore brownfield and greenfield EPCI contracts is set to remain high, with the tendering process under way for eight more Aramco CRPOs.

Four tenders were issued in August for CRPOs 149, 150, 152 and 153, which cover the EPCI works on the Arabiyah, Hasbah and Marjan offshore oil field developments. Of the four CRPOs, contractors in Saudi Aramco’s Long-Term Agreement (LTA) pool have submitted bids for 149, 152 and 153. 

Separately, LTA contractors are also preparing bids for four tenders worth a total of $4bn, which will further expand the Zuluf offshore field development.

Meanwhile, Iran is expected to give shape to its plan for gas extraction from its North Pars field, along with raising output from its onshore and offshore oil fields. Increasing production is vital for Tehran in order to maintain steady volumes of exports to earn vital revenue for its economy, which has been crippled by years of international sanctions.

Pars Oil & Gas Company is estimated to have allocated $15bn to the North Pars gas field development project. However, with the project being in the study phase, and with Iran’s cash-strapped government barely able to provide support to its population, the scheme could see little to no progress in 2025.

In the UAE, with the deadline approaching for Adnoc’s target of raising crude output capacity to 5 million b/d by 2027, it is anticipated that the company will funnel billions of dollars into increasing the production potential of its onshore and offshore oil fields. 

Adnoc Group subsidiary Adnoc Offshore is evaluating bids for three packages of a multibillion-dollar project to boost oil production at the Lower Zakum offshore hydrocarbons concession in Abu Dhabi. The goal of the first phase of the Lower Zakum long-term development plan is to raise the asset’s output capacity to 520,000 b/d by 2027 and maintain that level until 2034. 

Adnoc Offshore has also started the tendering exercise for front-end engineering and design work on the second expansion phase of the Umm Shaif offshore oil field.

Another Adnoc Group subsidiary, Adnoc Onshore, has made a significant capex investment in growing crude output from its main Bab, Northeast Bab, Bu Hasa and Southeast fields. As a result, it is on course to award more contracts in 2025 to maintain and eventually increase output from these fields through its P5 projects, which aim to achieve an oil production potential of 5 million b/d by 2027. 

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13100083/main.gif
Indrajit Sen

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • PDO awards contract for Al-Ghubar oil field project

    12 November 2026

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has awarded the main contract for a project to build a facility to handle additional oil production from the Al-Ghubar field in the sultanate.

    The Al-Ghubar field is located in the Ghaba Salt Basin at Qarn Alam, within majority state-owned PDO’s Block 6 concession area.

    The Al-Ghubar gas-oil gravity drainage (GOGD) facility will be designed as a sour (hydrogen sulphide) facility and is expected to handle a maximum oil production rate of 1,800 standard cubic metres a day (cm/d), a total water flow rate of up to 10,421 standard cm/d and gas lift of up to 256,934 standard cm/d. Production from the planned Al-Ghubar GOGD facility will be exported to PDO’s main oil line.

    China-based Jereh Group has won the contract for the Al-Ghubar GOGD facility project, sources told MEED.

    A project kick-off meeting between PDO and Jereh has also recently taken place, the sources said.

    MEED previously reported that Jereh had emerged as the lowest bidder for the project.

    The following contractors, among others, are understood to have been bidding for the Al-Ghubar GOGD facility project:

    • Engineering for the Petroleum & Process Industries (Egypt) / Petrojet (Egypt)
    • GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
    • Jereh (China)
    • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)

    PDO floated the tender for the Al-Ghubar GOGD facility project in March, setting an initial bid submission deadline of 4 May, MEED previously reported.

    PDO later extended the deadlines for the submission of technical and commercial bids to 26 July and 7 August, respectively. Contractors submitted technical proposals by the revised deadline, according to sources.

    After receiving the technical bids for the project in July, PDO granted contractors until 16 August to submit commercial bids. It eventually extended the deadline to 1 September, with contractors submitting commercial proposals by that date, as MEED reported.

    The scope of work on the Al-Ghubar GOGD project covers the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the following:

    • On-plot scope, consisting of:
      • Production separator  
      • Test separator  
      • Concentric wash tank
      • Wet oil pump
      • Water bath heater
      • Surge tank
      • Gas injection/gas lift compressor (centrifugal)
      • Utilities (instrument air compressors, chemical injection skids, drain system, vent system) 
      • Suction scrubber
      • Air coolers
      • Discharge scrubbers
      • Condensate flash drum
      • Atmospheric pressure knock-out drum 
      • Flare system
      • Gas heater
      • Water disposal pump
      • Oil shipping pump
      • 132kV substation and plant substation (housing 6.6kV and 415-Volt switchboard)
      • Control room
         
    • Off-plot scope consisting of:
      • Off-plot pipeline network (bulk header, test header, gathering infrastructure/ gathering line header, instrument air header, water disposal header)
      • Two remote manifold stations 
      • Tie-in connection to main oil line
      • Tie-in to gas network pipeline

    PDO previously intended to tender the Al-Ghubar GOGD project under its framework structure with selected EPC contractors, but ultimately tendered it separately.

    PDO is the operator of Oman’s Block 6 hydrocarbons concession, the sultanate’s largest and most prolific concession. Situated onshore and covering an area of 75,119 square kilometres, Block 6 contains 202 oil fields and 43 gas fields. PDO produces approximately 680,000 barrels a day of oil and condensates from the fields.

    The Omani government holds a 60% stake in PDO through Energy Development Oman. The other shareholders are UK-based Shell (34%), France’s TotalEnergies (4%) and Thailand’s state-owned PTTEP (2%).

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/21345337/main2647.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Laing O’Rourke joins the international exit list

    12 November 2026

    Commentary
    Colin Foreman
    Editor

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Laing O’Rourke’s decision to seek a buyer for its Middle East business marks the end of an era for UAE construction.

    In the early 2000s, the contractor was among the leading names in the market. Its work at Dubai International airport, the Atlantis hotel on the Palm Jumeirah and the ski slope at Mall of the Emirates made it arguably the UAE’s most prominent contractor during the pre-global financial crisis construction boom.

    Its activities were not limited to Dubai. A partnering agreement with Aldar for Al-Raha Beach then made it the most active contractor in Abu Dhabi almost overnight.

    The global financial crisis changed its fortunes. The Aldar Laing O’Rourke joint venture ended. Unsettled by payment problems and wider stress in the industry, the company took a more cautious approach to clients and projects in the region. One executive at the time told MEED: “You might see lots of tower cranes, but none of them are doing work that we would want to do.”

    The contractor’s appetite partially returned in the late 2010s, when it won Al-Wasl Plaza at the Expo 2020 site in Dubai. It also became a leading player in the growing data centre market, delivering facilities for repeat clients, including Khazna and Equinix.

    Data centres have since been its focus. These are significant projects, but they lack the public profile of the airport, Atlantis and Al-Wasl Plaza. As its profile faded, the company sold its UAE joinery arm to Dubai-based Arco Turnkey Solutions in 2025.

    Laing O’Rourke now looks set to follow other international contractors that have, for various reasons, left the region, including Murray & Roberts, Balfour Beatty, Multiplex, Carillion and Bam. With a record £17.2bn order book anchored by UK and Australian infrastructure, the group’s priorities clearly lie elsewhere.

    Whoever buys the business will inherit strong data centre credentials. For much of the market, however, Laing O’Rourke will be remembered for the landmark projects that defined the UAE’s boom years.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/21344577/main.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Poland’s Orlen terminates QatarEnergy LNG supply deal

    11 November 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Poland’s Orlen has announced it has terminated one of two long-term contracts for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of state enterprise QatarEnergy. The termination follows an ongoing force majeure event “resulting in an inability to meet contractual delivery obligations”.

    The agreement covered the supply of 1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of LNG, equivalent to approximately 15.3 terawatt-hours, with pricing linked to crude oil quotations. The estimated value of the agreement for 2026 is approximately €570m ($634.9m), Orlen said in a statement on 10 November.

    The terminated agreement was originally signed by Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo and QatarEnergy on 29 June 2009. Deliveries under the agreement commenced in 2016 and were due to remain in force until 2034, the Polish energy company said.

    The agreement will remain in force for a further 60 days following the notice of termination, Orlen said in its statement.

    Orlen continues to honour its second agreement with QatarEnergy, which covers deliveries of up to 1 million t/y of LNG until 2034, under a pricing formula linked to gas price quotations.

    “The decision to terminate the agreement does not affect the security of gas supplies. Gas production from the company’s own fields, together with its long-term gas supply agreements, ensures full coverage of Orlen Group’s gas requirements,” the company concluded.

    It is not clear whether Orlen’s termination of one of its long-term LNG supply agreements with QatarEnergy is related to the Qatari energy giant declaring force majeure on two instances in March this year, when its energy infrastructure was hit in Iranian drone and missile attacks.

    Force majeure episodes

    On 4 March, QatarEnergy issued force majeure to customers that were affected by its decision to stop production and shipments of LNG and associated products after military attacks on the company’s operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City in Qatar on 2 March.

    Later that month, Qatar said Iranian missiles had caused extensive damage at Ras Laffan Industrial City on 18 March, with Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy’s CEO and Minister of State for Energy Affairs, saying that the Iranian strikes had knocked out about 17% of its LNG export capacity, causing an estimated $20bn in lost annual revenue.

    At least two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities were damaged in the Iranian strikes, Al-Kaabi told news agency Reuters at the time. 

    Repairing damaged assets will sideline 12.8 million t/y of LNG for three to five years, threatening supplies to European and Asian nations, including China and India, according to Al-Kaabi.

    As a result, QatarEnergy said it would have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years for LNG supplies bound for Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China. Poland was not specifically mentioned at the time.

    “These are long-term contracts that we have to declare force majeure. We already declared, but that was a shorter term. Now it is whatever the period is,” Al-Kaabi said in March.

    QatarEnergy currently has a nameplate LNG production capacity of 77.5 million t/y, with all its processing trains and export infrastructure located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, which lies about 90 kilometres to the north of Doha and is home to the largest LNG production and export facility in the world. 

    QatarEnergy’s LNG production capacity is on course to rise to 142 million t/y when the three phases of its $40bn North Field LNG expansion programme are commissioned by the end of the decade. Engineering, procurement and construction works on its North Field East, North Field South and North Field West projects are progressing, with the first phase expected to be operational by the end of this year.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/21333808/main2615.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Riyadh shifts bid deadline for King Salman Stadium works

    11 November 2026

     

    Saudi Arabia’s Sports Ministry has set a deadline of 1 December for a contract covering early works at the King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh.

    The tender scope encompasses enabling works, site preparation and initial construction activities. The tender was issued on 11 October, carrying an initial submission deadline of 19 November. Contractors previously submitted prequalification statements for the main design-and-build contract in February.

    Designed by US-based architectural firm Populous, the stadium will cover approximately 660,000 square metres (sq m), seat 92,000 spectators and stand adjacent to King Abdulaziz Park. Facilities will feature a 150-seat royal suite, 120 hospitality suites, 300 VIP seats and 2,200 dignitary seats.

    The broader masterplan encompasses more than 360,000 sq m of ancillary facilities, featuring two training fields, fan zones, a closed sports hall, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an athletics track, and outdoor courts for volleyball, basketball and padel.

    Scheduled for completion by 2029, the venue will serve as the home base for the Saudi national football team and host the opening match and final of the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

    Saudi stadium plans

    In August 2024, MEED reported that Saudi Arabia plans to build 11 new stadiums and refurbish four existing venues for the 2034 tournament. Eight venues will be located in Riyadh, four in Jeddah, and one each in Al-Khobar, Abha and Neom.

    An additional 10 cities will host team base camps: Al-Baha, Jazan, Taif, Medina, AlUla, Umluj, Tabuk, Hail, Al-Ahsa and Buraidah. Across the kingdom, organisers plan to deploy 134 training sites, comprising 61 existing facilities and 73 new builds.

    Saudi Arabia was officially selected to host the 2034 Fifa World Cup during an online convention of member associations at the Fifa Congress on 11 December 2024.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/21325461/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Hormuz crisis sparks regional pipeline project boom

    11 November 2026

    Analysis
    Wil Crisp
    Oil & gas reporter

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    The ongoing disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait has sparked a regional pipeline project boom, as countries seek to diversify export routes for oil and gas.

    Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, several major pipeline projects have been announced, while others are being revived or accelerated.

    Countries that are participating in this regional pipeline boom include Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

    While the regional conflict has changed the dynamics within the oil and gas sectors of each of these countries in different ways, all of them see major pipeline projects as a key part of their strategic response to the conflict.

    Iraqi expansion

    Iraq is one of the region’s oil exporters that has been hit the hardest by the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Prior to the start of the regional conflict, the country was routing 94% of its total exports through the strait, with about 3.4 million barrels a day (b/d) being exported through its southern ports at the start of the year.

    At the same time, about 200,000 b/d was being exported via the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP) in the north of the country.

    In the wake of the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq has increased the volumes being exported via the ITP and has boosted its crude exports by truck through Syria.

    Earlier this month, domestic news outlets reported that Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation was exporting 500,000 b/d through the ITP.

    The daily exports consist of 125,000 barrels of Kirkuk crude, 175,000-200,000 barrels of Kurdistan Region crude and about 200,000 barrels of Basra crude, according to the reports.

    The Basra oil reaches collection stations at Sarallu and Khurmala by truck and from there is pumped north to Ceyhan in Turkiye.

    The volume of crude exported from Iraq by truck to the Syrian port of Baniyas has risen significantly in recent months.

    In October, Youssef Qablawi, the chief executive of the state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company, said that about 1,000 trucks were transporting fuel oil to Syria each day, with each truck carrying about 220 barrels.

    This represents exports of 220,000 b/d, which is a significant volume for Iraq, but transporting crude by truck is much more expensive than using a pipeline.

    Because of this, Iraq sees pipeline projects as a long-term solution to its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz and is rapidly pushing ahead with projects that are designed to replace exports currently transported by road, as well as increasing the volumes that can be exported via both Syria and Turkiye.

    Earlier this month, MEED reported that the governments of Iraq and Syria, state-owned oil companies and a consortium led by Qatar’s UrbaCon Contracting & Trading (UCC) were discussing the terms of a deal for four interconnected pipeline packages that are expected to have a total value of about $5bn.

    Stakeholders expect a contract to be signed before the end of the year that will make the UCC-led coalition the selected developer responsible for tendering engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the project.

    The consortium includes US-based Chevron, investment company TI Capital and France’s TotalEnergies.

    The four pipeline routes that are being discussed are:

    • Basra to Najaf
    • Najaf to Haditha
    • Haditha to Fish Khapour
    • Haditha to Banias Port in Syria

    The proposed plan will use a fast-track framework to bring the pipelines online as quickly as possible.

    Red Sea route

    Iraq and Saudi Arabia are also considering reviving an old pipeline route between the Zubair oil field in Basra and the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

    Operations of this 1,568-kilometre (km) pipeline were halted in August 1990 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the onset of the Gulf War.

    At the end of October, Saudi Arabia granted preliminary approval to revive the joint oil export pipeline project, according to a report published by Saudi Arabia’s Shafaq News, which cited anonymous sources.

    If the pipeline is reinstated, it could allow Iraq to export oil via the Red Sea, reducing its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

    The pipeline was originally built at a cost of more than $2.6bn and featured a large network of storage tanks and offshore loading terminals.

    Syrian strategy

    In addition to its involvement in Iraq’s strategic export pipeline project, Qatar’s UCC is developing a pipeline project in Syria that will increase the country’s ability to deal with future supply disruptions.

    On 30 September, UCC announced that it had , which will extend 186km between Homs and Aleppo.

    The 36-inch pipeline will have a transmission capacity of up to 11 million cubic metres a day of gas and will connect gas networks in Jordan to those in Turkiye via Syria.

    In its announcement, UCC said that the project is scheduled for completion within 22 months and will contribute to strengthening Syria’s gas infrastructure; enhancing the capacity of its gas transmission network; and supporting regional connectivity with Jordan, Turkiye and Lebanon.

    Hisham Al-Saleh, Syrian Petroleum Company’s deputy chief executive for the gas sector, has said that the project includes the installation of three compressors in Furqlus, which will allow gas to be transported in both directions between Turkiye and Jordan.

    Speaking to the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency, he said that the project will add an estimated 8 million cubic metres of storage capacity to the Syrian gas network, providing greater flexibility in managing gas production and use.

    Egyptian ambitions

    Egypt is also ramping up pipeline project activity in order to increase the number of oil and gas links that it has with neighbouring countries.

    The North African nation has long had ambitions to try and become a major regional energy hub.

    These plans have been given a boost by the ongoing disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which has reduced exports from nations like Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

    Concerns about the reliability of exports from Iraq and the GCC have led to increased investment in oil and gas infrastructure in countries that are not reliant on these waterways to transport hydrocarbons.

    In recent months, significant progress has been made on an integrated project that was launched to export offshore gas reserves in Cyprus via Egyptian energy infrastructure.

    In October, Italian oil and gas company Eni signed the main EPC and drilling contracts for the project, which will develop the Cronos field.

    The project includes contracts with several companies that will develop infrastructure in both Egypt and Cyprus.

    The awards include a $170m contract that has been won by Egypt’s Petrojet for a new onshore gas pipeline in Egypt that will help to transport gas to Egypt’s Damietta liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility.

    Separately, US-based Baker Hughes signed a contract for the design, procurement and construction of subsea production systems, including associated equipment and control systems.

    In September, it was announced that US-headquartered McDermott will carry out offshore work for the project, including the transportation, installation and connection of subsea pipelines and equipment.

    The Cronos development project will significantly increase the volume of gas being imported into Egypt, where it can be exported as LNG as well as helping to meet domestic demand.

    On top of the major pipeline project allowing the importation of gas from Cyprus, Cairo is also looking at other regional pipeline projects, including gas links to Libya.

    In a statement released earlier this month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said that a Libyan team will ​visit ⁠Cairo soon to continue technical talks about the gas pipelines, as well as other energy projects, with Egypt’s petroleum and electricity ministers.

    Pipeline problems

    While the planned oil pipeline projects in Iraq are seen as a possible solution to the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, they are also likely to face problems relating to the importation of necessary equipment that would normally be shipped through the waterway.

    The Common Seawater Supply Project, designed to bring water from the sea to inject into oil fields, is behind schedule, largely because of problems importing the pipeline segments through the strait.

    This issue could plague other planned pipeline projects in Iraq if the disruption to shipping continues, forcing contractors to use other, more costly, import routes.

    Challenging conditions

    Even when Iraq’s major export pipeline projects are completed, they may fail to resolve the country’s oil export problems to the extent many are expecting.

    While the export pipelines will go some way towards diversifying away from reliance on exports through waterways where oil and gas tankers are vulnerable to militant attacks, many industry insiders say Iraq could just be replacing one vulnerable export route with another.

    Oil pipelines in the Middle East and North Africa region have a long history of suffering attacks and often stretch long distances through remote regions where they are difficult to defend.

    Ultimately, it is likely that finding a diplomatic solution to the regional conflict will be the only way that Iraq can reliably increase its oil exports in the long term.

     

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/21305172/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp