Register for MEED's 14-day trial access 

QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of state enterprise QatarEnergy, has awarded Italian contractor Saipem an estimated $4bn engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract as part of the second phase of its North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) project.

Saipem has won combined packages COMP3A and COMP3B of the NFPS project’s second phase, it said in a statement on 16 September.

The scope of work on the combined packages encompasses EPCI of 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.

The aim of the second phase of the NFPS project is to support QatarEnergy’s North Field liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion programme.

The second NFPS phase will mainly involve building gas compression facilities to sustain and gradually increase gas production from Qatar’s offshore North Field gas reserve over the long term.

This is the second contract win for Saipem in the NFPS project’s second phase, which consists of four main EPCI packages.

Prior to winning combined packages COMP3A and COMP3B, QatarEnergy LNG awarded Saipem a $4.5bn order in October 2022 to build and install gas compression facilities.

The main scope of work on the package, which is known as EPCI 2, covers two large gas compression complexes that will comprise decks, jackets, topsides, interconnecting bridges, flare platforms, living quarters and interface modules.

The gas compression complexes – CP65 and CP75 – will weigh 62,000 tonnes and 63,000 tonnes, respectively, and will be the largest fixed steel jacket compression platforms ever built.

NFPS first phase

Saipem is executing the main EPCI works on the entire first phase of the NFPS project, which consists of two packages.

Through the first phase of the NFPS scheme, QatarEnergy LNG aims to increase the early gas field production capacity of the North Field offshore development to 110 million tonnes a year.

QatarEnergy LNG, formerly Qatargas, awarded Saipem the contract for the EPCI package in February 2021. The package is the larger of the two NFPS phase one packages and has a value of $1.7bn.

Saipem’s scope of work on the EPCI package encompasses building several offshore facilities for extracting and transporting natural gas, including platforms, supporting and connecting structures, subsea cables and anti-corrosion internally clad pipelines.

The scope of work also includes decommissioning a pipeline and other significant modifications to existing offshore facilities.

In addition, in April 2021, QatarEnergy LNG awarded Saipem two options for additional work within the EPCI package, worth about $350m.

QatarEnergy LNG awarded Saipem the second package of the NFPS phase one project, estimated to be worth $1bn, in March 2021.

Saipem’s scope of work on the package, known as EPCL, mainly covers installing three offshore export trunklines running almost 300km from their respective offshore platforms to the QatarEnergy LNG north and south plants located in Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Saipem has performed the front-end engineering and design work on the main production package of the first phase of the NFPS as part of a $20m contract that it was awarded in January 2019. This provided a competitive advantage to the Italian contractor in its bid to win the package.

Saipem expects to complete work on both packages of the first phase of the NFPS project by the end of 2024.