UK-based Mott MacDonald has been awarded a management contract to oversee a major project at the North East Bab (NEB) oil fields in Abu Dhabi, according to industry sources.

The project management consultancy (PMC) deal will see the company overseeing the front end engineering and design (feed) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) stages of the NEB phase three development project.

Project operator Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) selected Mott MacDonald over bids from several other companies, including UK-based Amec, Austria’s ILF consulting Engineers, US-based CH2M Hill and Australian group WorleyParsons.

Capacity expansions at the NEB fields – Al-Dabbiya, Rumaitha and Shanayel – are part of Adco’s plan to add 400,000 barrels a day (b/d) of crude production capacity over the coming years.

NEB is the closest oil asset to Abu Dhabi city and is located in some of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the emirate. Al-Dabbiya lies in a shallow coastal marine area, while the other structures are located onshore, southeast of Abu Dhabi.

Al-Dabbiya capacity will increase by 73,000 b/d and Rumaitha-Shanayel by 39,000 b/d bringing the NEB fields’ total throughput to 230,000 b/d.

The scope of project covers oil gathering, water injection, gas injection and water supply systems, as well as facilities for oil processing, oil storage & export, gas compression, gas dehydration and a utilities system.

The additional water and gas injection facilities will be required to sustain reservoir pressure and allow carbon dioxide-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques.

Adco has yet to award a deal for the feed phase of NEB phase three, which will be carried out over 2013 before the EPC contract is tendered.

Adco is a joint venture of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the UK’s BP, the US’ ExxonMobil, the UK/Dutch Shell Group, France’s Total and Portugal’s Partex Oil & Gas.