Consortium wins $2bn-plus contract on Nasr field

09 July 2014

Relief for South Korean group with major award after long drought in Abu Dhabi offshore market

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has won deal worth over $2bn on the development of Abu Dhabi’s offshore Nasr oil field, according to sources close to the project.

The South Korean company, which bid in a consortium with US-based KBR, was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by project operator Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco).

The deal is for the second package of Adma-Opco’s Nasr full field development project, which is part of the company’s crude capacity expansion programme that also encompasses the Satah al-Razboot (Sarb) and Umm al-Lulu fields.

MEED reported in May that HHI and KBR submitted the lowest bid for package two tender with a more competitive offer than rival consortiums led by respective South Korean groups Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Samsung Heavy Industries, and Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

Package two covers the construction of three processing platforms and associated facilities at the Nasr field, located 30 kilometres northeast of Adma-Opco’s active Umm Shaif field.

No contract award has been announced for the smaller first package, which is estimated at about $850m.

The award will come as a relief for HHI as the South Korean company has experienced a long drought in Abu Dhabi’s lucrative offshore EPC market after bidding on several major tenders in the current expansion programme.

HHI emerged as the lead bidder for the near-$4bn largest package of the Upper Zakum early production facilities in 2012, but the contract was retendered and eventually awarded to a consortium led by UK-based Petrofac.

The full-field development is the second phase of the expansions of the Nasr field. Phase one, covering the early production facilities, is currently under execution after the EPC deal was awarded to Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro in 2011.

The scheme forms part of Adma-Opco’s plan to add 400,000 barrels a day (b/d) of production capacity by 2020 from several offshore field developments including Nasr, Sarb and Umm al-Lulu. The main EPC packages on the Sarb and Umm al-Lulu projects were awarded in 2013.

Adma-Opco is majority-owned by state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), with minority stakes held by the UK’s BP, France’s Total and Japan Oil Development Company (Jodco).

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