State-owned Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco) has awarded a $260m contract to a consortium of Belgium’s Dredging International and Doha-based Middle East Dredging Company to build two artificial islands in the Gulf.

The artificial islands will be used to house drilling platforms and supporting infrastructure at the undeveloped offshore Satah al-Razboot (Sarb) field. The islands will cover an area of 0.25 square kilometres.

Adma-Opco invited international engineering & construction firms to express interest in the development of the field in December. The US’ Fluor is currently designing Sarb’s offshore facilities, which will pump 100,000 barrels a day (b/d) from the field and the tender is expected to be issued in April (MEED 17:12:10).

The project is part of a programme being led by the emirate’s two offshore operators, Adma-Opco and its sister company, Zakum Development Company (Zadco) to boost offshore production capacity to 1.75 million b/d by 2020 from 1.1 million b/d currently.

Adma-Opco is targeting 300,000 b/d of additional production from four new offshore fields; Ghasha-Butini-West Mubarraz, Umm Lulu, Nasr and Sarb, by 2014.

Zadco is using a similar scheme, with four artificial islands, to boost production at the offshore Upper Zakum field by 250,000 b/d to 750,000 b/d.