Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company’s (NPCC) latest offshore contract, an estimated $800-900m deal on the Nasr field, sees the group continuing a strong run of awards in the emirate’s upstream sector.

Since Abu Dhabi began its latest round of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) spending on offshore oil field expansions in 2012, NPCC has been the lead bidder in four of the 10 largest upstream awards and involved in a fifth as part of a consortium.

Abu Dhabi Operating Company (Adma-Opco) awarded almost $4.3bn to NPCC since the start of 2012, which also included two deals on the Umm al-Lulu full-field development and an oil lines replacement on the Lower Zakum field.

NPCC is part of the Senaat, a state-owned Abu Dhabi-based industrial conglomerate that also owns Emirates Steel and several manufacturing companies.

UK-headquartered Petrofac has also had an impressive run of wins in Abu Dhabi’s upstream sector, winning $4.99bn since the start of 2012 (when including the total value of awards won as a lead bidder), dominated by a $3.79bn deal on early production facilities on the Upper Zakum field.

South Korean companies been relatively less successful in the past three years compared with in the 2008-10 period, when Abu Dhabi was spending heavily on several megaprojects.

However, the top five of contractors is completed by three South Korean groups. Hyundai Heavy Industries was last week awarded a $1.94bn contract on package two of the Nasr development, ending a long dry run for the Ulsan-based group.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction and GS Engineering & Construction picked up large deals on the respective developments of the Satah al-Razboot (Sarb) offshore field and the North East Bab onshore fields.

Elsewhere, it has been a disappointing period for major contractors in Abu Dhabi’s offshore sector. Engineering companies such as Italy-based Saipem and South Korea’s Samsung Engineering, which submitted bids for several large upstream tenders in the past three years, failed to pick up any awards.

While the Nasr awards bring a strong period for offshore expansion spending to a close, there is still plenty of work in the pipeline for oil and gas contractors in Abu Dhabi.

Deals to look out for this year include several packages on the expansion of the onshore/offshore Integrated Gas Development expansion and the contract for the third-phase expansion of the shallow-offshore Al-Dabbiya field.