EXCLUSIVE: Aramco prepares to tender Marjan offshore contracts

16 May 2018
Between four and six packages are expected to be tendered over coming weeks

Saudi Aramco is preparing to tender between four and six offshore contracts over the coming weeks as part of its multibillion-dollar megaproject to develop the Marjan oil field, according to industry sources.

The scope of the packages includes decks, jackets and pipelines.

“The work will be divided into between four and six packages,” said one source. “Even if they are divided into six, the packages are expected to be large.

“Aramco had been pushing to issue the ITBs [invitations to bid] before Ramadan. Now it seems like they could be delayed until after Ramadan.”

A string of onshore and offshore packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars have already been announced by Saudi Arabia’s national oil company as part of the Marjan Crude Increment Programme.

The prequalified bidders for the project are companies from Aramco’s long-term agreement (LTA) group of five offshore engineering contractors.

LTA-approved contractors are:

  • Saipem (Italy)
  • Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering (India)/Subsea 7 (from the UK, which acquired the Saudi Arabia unit of Singapore’s EMAS Chiyoda)
  • Dynamic Industries (Saudi Arabia)
  • McDermott International (US)
  • National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)

The Marjan offshore field is estimated to have the capacity to produce about 500,000 barrels a day of crude based on current installed production facilities.

It is located in the Gulf, approximately 85 kilometres northeast of Aramco’s Tanajib oil complex.

The development megaproject consists of new offshore facilities such as platforms and additional pipelines to link to a new gas facility in Tanajib on the Gulf coast, and from Tanajib to the expanded natural gas liquid (NGL) facility in Khursaniyah.

In February, UK-based engineering firm Wood said it had won a five-year contract from Saudi Aramco for the state oil giant’s megaprojects in Saudi Arabia, including engineering and project management services to develop the Marjan oil field.

At the time Wood said the front-end engineering design (feed), major increment and overall project management consultancy will be executed from its UK, Khobar, Saudi Arabia and India offices.

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