EXCLUSIVE: Zadco awards feed contract to French firm

18 December 2017
Project includes gas injection, gas lift, separation and work on associated facilities

The Zakum Development Company (Zadco), a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has awarded French oil and gas engineering contractor TechnipFMC a front-end engineering design (feed) contract as part of a larger project to boost output from the Zakum offshore oil field in Abu Dhabi.

The project includes gas injection, gas lift, separation and work on associated facilities. Detailed engineering works are currently progressing on the project, although the invitation to bid (ITB) is yet to be issued. According to MEED Projects, the main contract is scheduled to be awarded by July 2018, and the project to be completed by December 2020.

Zadco has not responded to requests for confirmation and further details, while TechnipFMC is yet to respond to an e-mailed request.

In November, Adnoc – the main operator and the 60 per cent owners of Zadco – granted a 10-year extension to the other stakeholders ExxonMobil (28 per cent) and Japan’s Jodco (12 per cent), stretching their concession agreements till 31 December, 2051. Adnoc has also made public its plans to boost production of the Zakum oil field from the current 750,000 barrels a day (b/d) to 1 million b/d by 2024.

The Upper Zakum oilfield, located 84 kilometres in offshore Abu Dhabi, is the second largest offshore oil field and the fourth largest oilfield in the world. Oil was first discovered in 1963 and Adnoc took the decision, at its own risk, to develop the field, in 1977.

Subsequently, in 1978, Jodco, a wholly-owned INPEX subsidiary, partnered with Adnoc in developing the field, followed by ExxonMobil, in 2006. In the same year, the Upper Zakum joint venture partners began studying options to increase production capacity from 500,000 b/d to 750,000 b/d, eventually pursuing a plan to use an innovative artificial island-based development combined with extended-reach drilling technology to increase recovery and minimise infrastructure.

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