Italy’s Saipem has won two deals with a combined value of $1bn from Saudi Aramco for the development of the Marjan, Zuluf and Safaniya offshore oil fields.

Saipem has received the notification of award from Saudi Aramco for the two engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC), the company said in a statement posted on its website.

The contract release purchase orders (CRPOs) are part of Aramco’s Long-Term Agreement (LTA), which gives four companies exclusive rights to bid for a number of contracts in the kingdom’s offshore oil and gas sector.

Saipem will carry out the design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation and implementation of subsea systems for the three offshore facilities. It will also lay pipelines, subsea cables and umbilicals, platform decks and jackets. The contracts also include additional maintenance and dismantling works on the existing platforms already operating in the fields.

Saipem was vying for the CRPOs along with the three other LTA holders including US-based Dynamic Industries; a team of India’s Larsen & Toubro and Singapore’s Emas; and US group McDermott.

MEED on 6 October reported that the Italian firm had emerged as a frontrunner for the deals for which the scopes of work are:

• Ten slip-over jackets, nine slip-over decks with pipelines and cables at the Safaniya field
• Seven platform decks with pipelines and cables associated with the Marjan and Zuluf fields

Aramco had signed LTA deals with four EPC contractors in June 2015, which gave them exclusive rights to bid for several oil and gas producing platforms, tie-in platforms, pipelines, power cables and related facilities under the masterplan for its offshore fields. The UAE’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), became the fifth LTA contractor on 13 October.

Safaniya, Marjan and Zuluf are among the largest offshore oil fields in Saudi territory, located about 200 kilometres north of Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran.

Aramco, which is the main revenue-earner for Saudi Arabia, also plans to award two offshore oil field maintenance contracts with a combined estimated value of about $1bn, sources told MEED on 17 October. It has sent a formal request to LTA holders, asking them to submit interest for maintenance contracts for the Marjan and Berri oil fields, the sources said, adding that the scope of work includes the installation of 18 jackets in the two oil fields.

The company is also assessing bids for an estimated $1.6bn contract to expand operations at the Safaniya field, MEED revealed earlier in October.