US engineering group KBR is expected to win project management consultancy (PMC) deals on two major offshore oil and gas field developments in Abu Dhabi, according to sources familiar with the projects.

KBR was one of several international companies submitting bids for consultancy on a project to develop sour gas reservoirs at the Hail and Ghasha fields and another contract for the Dalma field development.

KBR is understood to have submitted the lowest price for the PMC contract on the Hail and Ghasha sour gas development owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). The tender process is overseen by Austrian oil company OMV, which has been evaluating offshore oil and gas fields for Adnoc.

The Hail and Ghasha scheme is planned to install 1 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of additional gas capacity from sour gas reservoirs at the offshore fields, following the success of Abu Dhabi’s first major sour gas development at the onshore Shah field completed in 2016. The Hail and Ghasha development is likely to require total investment of at least $10bn.

Sour gas contains significant amounts of hydrogen sulphide which must be removed before the gas is used, making sour gas projects often more expensive and complex to carry out.

The contract for the front-end engineering and design (feed) study on the project is expected to be awarded at a later date. The contract was initially tendered in 2016 but has been pushed back with no official deadline in place.

Dalma field development

A second project aims to build the first production platforms and pipelines at the Dalma field, which is located in the west of Abu Dhabi’s offshore territory between Dalma Island and the maritime border with Qatar.

KBR is expected to also be awarded the PMC contract for the Dalma development. Two industry sources familiar with the scheme told MEED that Canada’s SNC Lavalin submitted the lowest bid on the tender, but the proposal by KBR is favoured by Adnoc.

The tender process for the Dalma PMC contract has been overseen by US oil company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), which has been working with Adnoc assessing the potential of the field.

Adnoc plans to build oil lines at Dalma, but the priority will be to install the gas line first. According to sources, the planned capacity for the development is 350 million cf/d.

Genesis Oil & Gas, a consultancy that is a subsidiary of Technip, was commissioned to carry out the concept study for the scheme.

As with the Hail and Ghasha fields, the contract for the feed study on Dalma is expected to be awarded at a later date.

OMV and Oxy in March 2016 signed a four-year deal with Adnoc to evaluate several undeveloped oil and gas fields in the North West Offshore area of Abu Dhabi including the Hail, Ghasha and Dalma.

The deal covers a seismic, drilling and engineering work programmes for exploration, appraisal and potential field developments. OMV and Oxy are also contributing with seconded personnel and technical expertise for the evaluation activities.