CH2M Hill wins management of Abu Dhabi onshore expansion

07 May 2014

Group to oversee development of Sahil, Qusahwira and Mender fields; SNC Lavalin wins design deal on Qusahwira

US-based consultancy CH2M Hill has won a contract to manage the development of the Sahil, Qusahwira and Mender onshore oil fields in Abu Dhabi.

The project management consultancy (PMC) contract was awarded by state-owned onshore operator Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco).

MEED revealed in September 2013 that Adco is planning to expand crude output by 143,000 barrels a day (b/d) by expanding capacity at the Sahil and Qusahwira fields and starting production at the Mender field for the first time.

The megaproject, officially called Sahil phase 2 development project, Asab units 6&7, Mender FFDP & QW phase 2 development projects, will increase the emirate’s onshore crude capacity by about 8 per cent, from the 1.8 million b/d being commissioned in the current round of developments.

CH2M Hill won the contract ahead of bids from British groups Amec and Mott MacDonald, Canada’s SNC Lavalin and Netherlands-based Tebodin.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) contract for the Qusahwira field section of the megaproject has been awarded to SNC Lavalin. The development will add 25,000 b/d of capacity to the field’s existing production.

The Qusahwira field, part of Adco’s South East Asset, is located 260 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi and covers an area of 7,525 square kilometres. SNC Lavalin will carry out the study at its operations in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Toronto.

Adco has yet to officially award the feed contracts on the Sahil and Mender developments.

After the feed stage is complete, Adco is expected to award several engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages in 2015 with a total value of more than $1bn.

Adco has completed, or is in the process of commissioning, two major onshore development programmes it started constructing in 2009. The ‘1.8 million b/d programme’ was undertaken to develop the Qusawirah, Bida al-Qemzan and Bab fields while the Shah-Asab-Sahil (SAS) project is increasing output from the three named fields.

Adco is now 100 per cent owned by the state’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), after its long-term concession with five international oil companies (IOCs) expired in January.

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