Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has undertaken a digital project to transform the digital operations of its main gas processing plants at Ruwais and Habshan, by appointing three engineering firms to execute a digital enhancement project.

In the last week of November, Adnoc awarded China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering (CPPE) Abu Dhabi, the US’ Neste Jacobs and Abu Dhabi-based Avenir Engineers and Consultants three separate contracts to carry out the digital works, according to sources.

The total value of the project is estimated to be between $25m-$30m, one source said.

The value of each of the contracts awarded to the firms is not known, although it is understood that budget has not been equally distributed among the contractors.

The main scope of work on the project entails improving the digitalisation quotient of the Adnoc gas processing plants, by modelling the 2D and 3D documents on an integrated software-based platform.

A primary component of the works is to implement US digital services provider Intergraph Corporation’s SmartPlant Foundation software into the plants’ operations.

A portion of the job also involves laser scanning the project sites.

While CPPE Abu Dhabi and Neste Jacobs will execute the digital works at the units of the Habshan gas processing facility, Avenir will perform its share of the job at units of the Ruwais complex.

Adnoc floated the tender for the job in April, one of the sources said, with the bid evaluation starting in August.

All major front-end engineering and design (feed) consultants operating in the Abu Dhabi market are understood to have participated in the tendering process.