Switzerland’s ABB has been awarded a $175m contract to boost the power generation capacity at Abu Dhabi’s Zirku oil and gas processing facilities.

The work will involve the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and installation of two gas turbine driven generators, step-up transformers, new high voltage switchgear and power management system. The project is scheduled for completion in June 2016.

The client for the project is the Zakum Development Company (Zadco). Zirku island is located 135 kilometres north-west of Abu Dhabi, and is the main industrial base for the processing, storage and export of oil from the Upper Zakum, Umm Al-Dalkh and Satah fields. Zadco is planning to increase the production rate of the Zakum field from 550,000 barrels of oil a day (b/d) to 750,000 b/d.

This is the latest of a number of utility contracts which have been awarded for the Zirku island development in the past year. In October 2013, Dubai-headquartered Metito was awarded a $5.7m contract to build a desalination project for the Zirku development.

Metito will provide emergency containerised water packages to Zirku Island, which will be used to produce potable water through seawater desalination. The project will utilise reverse osmosis (RO) and ultra-filtration (UF) advanced technology. The work will also involve the required construction and interconnecting of pipelines. Metito will provide construction supervision services, as well as operation and maintenance (O&M) services for six months following the completion of the construction phase.