Abu Dhabi is assessing bids for two projects that will increase the capacity of its largest oil field, the offshore Upper Zakum field, to 1 million barrels a day (b/d), according to sources familiar with the development.

Several international firms submitted engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) proposals for the packages in 2015, but there have been delays in the timeline towards contract awards.

The Upper Zakum field development is being carried out by Abu Dhabi’s offshore operator, Zakum Development Company (Zadco), with EPC work currently under execution to boost the field’s capacity to 750,000 b/d.

Zadco’s facilities capacity expansion scheme will expand the company’s oil processing capacity to enable it to handle 1 million b/d. The package will also include a gas treatment plant.

Commercial EPC bids were submitted for the project in the third quarter of 2015, but Zadco has yet to make a decision to award the contract. Zadco is thought to have recently asked bidders to extend their bid bonds to June.

Bidders are thought to include:

• Chiyoda CCC Engineering (UAE)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

In the second quarter of last year, Zadco received technical EPC bids on the package to build a sulphates reduction plant. However, the firm has yet to set a date for commercial bids.

The project will allow Zadco to increase oil production capacity by injecting water into reservoirs to improve crude recovery. The proposed plant will remove salts from the water before injection.

Four international firms are vying to carry out the scheme. The companies are:

• ABB (Switzerland)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

In August 2015, UK-based Amec Foster Wheeler was awarded an extension to its existing project management consultancy (PMC) contract for the development of the Upper Zakum field, located 84 kilometres northwest of Abu Dhabi.

Zadco awarded the EPC contracts on Upper Zakum’s early production facilities in 2012 and early 2013. Package two, worth $3.7bn, was awarded to a consortium of Petrofac and South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Engineering (DSME). The $817m first package was awarded to a consortium of Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and Technip.

Zadco has built four artificial islands to support drilling rigs as an alternative to installing new wellhead platforms and flowlines.

Upper Zakum is one of the world’s biggest offshore oil fields and the UAE’s largest producing upstream oil asset. In late 2013, Zadco said the field was producing an average of 585,000 b/d.

The company is targeting 1 million b/d of capacity from the field by 2022, but is weighing up the decision to move ahead with the expansions amid low oil prices.

“Zadco may ask the existing contractors to continue [to expand capacity to 1 million b/d],” says a source familiar with the scheme. “But in the current low oil price environment, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) may not choose to prioritise large oil capacity expansions.”

Zadco is a joint venture of state-owned Adnoc, US-based oil major ExxonMobil and Japan Oil Development Company (Jodco).