Abu Dhabi has floated a tender to expand production at its onshore Rumaitha and Shanayel oil fields, according to sources close to the bidding process.

Project owner Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) tendered the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract as part of the third phase of development on its North East Bab fields.

Prequalified companies have been asked to submit technical EPC proposals by 9 July, with commercial bids expected to follow later in the year.

There are about 12-13 companies prequalified for the project in a list dominated by European and South Korean contractors, with at least one local contractor also preparing to bid.

The project’s front-end engineering & design (feed) was carried out by France’s Technip, with UK-based Mott MacDonald hired as the scheme’s project management consultant (PMC).

Adco’s North East Bab asset is located just 31 kilometres from Abu Dhabi city and comprises three producing fields: Rumaitha, Shanayel and Al-Dabbiya.   

North East Bab has the capacity to produce about 110,000 b/d – about 8 per cent of Adco’s total production – and this capacity is due to be doubled after the third-phase expansion project’s completion.

The package for the expansion of the Al-Dabbiya field is expected to be tendered in 2014, with Adco currently in the process of awarding the feed contract for the package.

Whereas Rumaitha and Shanayel are located onshore south of Abu Dhabi city, Al-Dabbiya lies in a shallow coastal marine area, which is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the emirate.

Adco is a joint venture of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the UK’s BP, the US’ ExxonMobil, the UK/Dutch Shell Group, France’s Total and Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas. The company structure will change at the start of 2014 when Abu Dhabi forms a new joint venture to operate its onshore oil fields.