Milaha, one of the largest shipping and logistics companies in the Middle East, has entered into a formal agreement with the US oil field services firm Schlumberger.

Milaha has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Schlumberger for a five-year joint development project that will include the development of oil well stimulation vessels.

The first of these vessels will be designed and outfitted locally.

It will use Schlumberger’s patented FlexSTIM offshore modular stimulation system.

Pre-engineering for the scheme has already begun, according to a statement released by Qatar-based Milaha, and will evolve during the final quarter of 2020.

Schlumberger supplies the local petroleum industry with several key services such as seismic acquisition and processing, well testing and directional drilling, artificial lifts, well completions and groundwater extraction.

Qatar’s oil and gas projects market has been one of the most robust in the Middle East over 2020.

Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the total value of active hydrocarbon projects rose by 48.5 per cent from $42.1bn to $62.5bn between the end of 2019 and 15 September 2020.

This is mainly down to a large expansion in gas project activity.

Over the 2020 time period, the value of the country’s active gas projects more than doubled, rising from $25.2bn to $51.1bn.