Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco) plans to award deals worth around $300m for a revamp of its offshore Lower Zakum field water injection facilities by June, sources close to the project tell MEED.

The company got approval from its parent company, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), to move ahead with the project during the week ending 6 May, executives with knowledge of the project tell MEED.

International engineering firms submitted commercial bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deals on 19 January 2010, and had originally expected an award to be made by the end of the first quarter (MEED 24:1:2010).

Adma-Opco has told bidding firms that it will award the deals in either late May or early June.

The project covers the construction of an offshore platform and new water injection facilities linked in to an existing unit at the Lower Zakum field. The new facilities will gather seawater and pump it into the oil reservoir to maintain pressure and ultimately increase production at the ageing field.

Engineering firms were asked to submit bids both for the entire project and the injection facilities and platform as separate schemes. Sources close to the project have named the UK’s J Ray McDermott as the favourite to win the platform deal and Paris-based Technip as the frontrunner for the injection facilities contract.

The project is part of a series of schemes by Adma-Opco to boost production at its offshore oil and gas fields. The company hopes to increase output from current levels of about 600,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 1 million b/d by 2015.

Abu Dhabi’s other offshore oil and gas operator, Zakum Development Company (Zadco), wants to boost production levels from 500,000 b/d currently to 750,000 b/d in a similar timeframe.