US/Canadian Veco has won a $300m deal to oversee the development of the onshore Bida el-Qemzan oil field in Abu Dhabi, according to sources close to the project.

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco) awarded the engineering and procurement contract to the company in late January.

Veco had been working on the detailed engineering for the project since 2009. It also acted as a management consultant during the basic design and feasibility study of the scheme.

Veco will now design and order the equipment and materials for a new oil gathering system, pumping systems, a network of pipelines, water injection facilities and the supporting infrastructure at the field.

Once design and procurement is complete, Adco will look for a contractor to build the facilities. It is likely to ask Veco to oversee the construction process under an engineering, procurement and construction management deal, according to a source close to the project.

The development is part of a wider Adco scheme to boost the emirate’s overall oil production capacity to 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d) from current levels of about 1.4 million b/d.

The scheme, known as the 1.8 million project, is likely to be completed by 2017, a senior Adco executive told local media on 8 February. The emirate’s overall production capacity is set to reach 3.5 million b/d by 2018.

The local National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) is in final negotiations for two other deals on the scheme, covering the construction of new production facilities at the Bab and Qusawirah fields. Sources close to the project say the deals are worth about $1.8bn in total.