State-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPEC) is the frontrunner for the estimated $1.5bn engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to upgrade Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (Adnoc) onshore Bu Hasa oil field.

Five groups are competing for the Adnoc Onshore contract, commercial bids for which were submitted on 12 August. They are:

• Larsen and Toubro (L&T, India)
• China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPEC, China)
• A joint venture of Saipem (Italy) and ENPPI (Egypt)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

“Word is that the Chinese firm [CPPEC] is now in front of the queue to get the Bu Hasa contract,” a source has told MEED.

“Earlier it was India’s L&T that was ahead of the other bidders, but it now seems that the Chinese have overtaken them in the race,” the source said.

Adnoc Onshore’s prime objective of undertaking the project is to sustain and increase the Bu Hasa field’s production at 650,000 barrels a day in the long-term.

The scope of work for the $1.5bn EPC contract is pretty wide and will have several components to it, chief among those being:

• Expanding the gathering facilities at the Bu Hasa field development
• Adding two compression trains
• Providing for a water injection network
• Modification of separation trains.