Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has awarded the last major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package on its $10bn Shah gas development project to Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC).

The $550m contract will see CCC build the sulphur granulation and handling facilities.

The scope of the contract includes granulation and storage facilities for liquid and granulated sulphur, railcar loading, conveying systems, a marine terminal, utilities and an 11km pipeline. Construction will take place over 40 months.

The on-site granulation facilities had become necessary after plans to transport the sulphur by pipeline to the processing facilities in Ruwais were abandoned in favour of transporting granulated sulphur from Shah on the first stretch of the Etihad Railway scheme.

Sulphur from the Shah and Habshan fields will be processed in a new handling terminal located 4.5 kilometres from the existing Gasco terminal and will be able to receive 22,000 tonnes a day (t/d) of sulphur.

The Shah gas field development is of strategic importance to Abu Dhabi, which is faced with a shortage of gas to provide feedstock for its growing energy needs in the face of increasing industrial development and domestic consumption.

Once all works are completed, the Shah will increase Adnoc’s gas production by 1 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d), as the national oil company is seeking to boost its total production to 6 billion cf/d from its current 4.5 billion cf/d. To make the gas usable for power generation, its sulphur content will need to be extracted. The processed sulphur will then find use in the petrochemicals industry.

The deal was initially to be concluded at the end of March (MEED 25:03:11). Early in April, MEED reported that bidders had extended their bid bond by a further two weeks, as Adnoc procrastinated on its decision. The bid bonds where then extended for another two weeks on April 25, the day the first extension ended.

Throughout the delay, CCC had remained the frontrunner.

“CCC is a strong contractor in the Middle East. Without any big accident or incident, they will get the project,” a source at a rival bidder said at the time.

The contract covers the construction of sulphur granulation facilities with a capacity of about 7 million tonnes a year (t/y) at the Shah field, located 190 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi city.

Adnoc has partnered with Occidental in a 60:40 joint venture (JV) in 2010, after the US’ ConocoPhilips had pulled out of a partnership the same year.

Project planners had initially considered developing both the Shah and the Bab gas field, before narrowing the scope to the Shah field.

The other bidders for the contract were:

• Daelim (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai (South Korea)
• Punj Lloyd (India)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Tecnimont (Italy)
• Al-Jaber Group (local)/Techint Group (France)