China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) has been awarded a $330m deal to develop the onshore Mender oil field in Abu Dhabi.

MEED revealed in April that CPECC was the frontrunner to win the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender after submitting the lowest commercial bid.

The contract was awarded by Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (Adco), which is developing the Mender field along with two more fields in its South East Asset: Qusahwira and Sahil.

Other companies bidding for the tender were thought to include:

• Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC),
• the local Dodsal
• and India’s Larsen & Toubro.

The project will start production at the Mender field for the first time, with a capacity of about 20,000 barrels a day (b/d), according to industry sources.

The field is located 290 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi city and 125km south of the Asab field close to the emirate’s border with Saudi Arabia and Oman.

CPECC will build oil gathering stations, pipelines, power transmission lines and sewage systems at the Mender field site.

CPECC is an arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

US-based CH2M Hill won the project management consultancy (PMC) contract to oversee the development of the three South East Asset fields, MEED revealed in May 2014.

Adco has now asked companies to submit technical EPC bids for phase 2 of the Qusahwira field development in June 2015, according to one source.

A major capacity expansion at the Sahil field is being planned for a later date.