Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has awarded two packages for a major water injection development project at an onshore oilfield in the sultanate.

The project will build facilities to allow water to be injected back into the Amin reservoir in north-central Oman to increase pressure and boost oil production.

PDO awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the off-plot package, estimated to be worth $150m, to Muscat-based Gulf Petrochemicals Services & Trading (GPS).

The on-plot package, estimated at $50m, has been awarded to another local contractor Special Technical Services (STS).

The scope of a water injection project normally includes processing facilities, production trains, a water treatment plant, aquifer pumps, a steam plant and associated facilities. The EPC work is expected to be carried out over three years.

Australia-based engineering group WorleyParsons carried out the front-end engineering design (feed) contracts for both the on-plot and off-plot packages.

Water injection is part of PDO’s strategy to invest in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes to boost production from its existing producing oil fields.

PDO is 60 per cent owned by the government of Oman, with the UK/Dutch Shell, France’s Total and Portugal’s Partex owning the rest of the shares.