ABU DHABI: The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has awarded the two Front End Engineering Design, FEED, contracts for its planned offshore ultra-sour gas mega-project, which consists of the Hail, Ghasha and Dalma fields. Bechtel was awarded the Hail and Ghasha FEED Contract, and TechnipFMC the Dalma FEED Contract. Both are worth many hundreds of million of dirhams, a statement said.

In man-hours, the two FEED contracts collectively are the largest ever awarded by an oil and gas company, underlining the significance of a detailed FEED phase to optimise project cost and schedule. The project, in the north-western area of offshore Abu Dhabi, could meet nearly 20 per cent of the UAE’s gas demand by the second half of the next decade.

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Adnoc Group CEO, said, “The growth in energy demand in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE has prompted Adnoc to harness its gas resources as part of its 2030 transformational strategy. This FEED award provides Adnoc with further smart growth potential by unlocking our undeveloped sour gas reserves and will help us to deliver a key strategic imperative, which is to ensure a sustainable and economic gas supply.” In addition to awarding the FEED contracts, Adnoc is evaluating five Technology Licensors contracts, covering Gas Treatment Licensor; Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU) Licensor; Natural Gas Liquids Licensor; Condensates Recovery — Hydro treaters — and Hydrogen Generation Licensor. These technologies are critical to the successful execution of the FEED phase.

Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, Director of Adnoc’s Upstream business, said, “The decision to award the FEED contracts came after a rigorous and extremely competitive tendering process, ensuring we will strictly manage costs through working with contractors who can deploy effective engineering and robust value-add technologies. In progressing with these projects, we will create the potential to capitalise on our success and experience in ultra-sour gas production gained from the development of the Shah field, the largest project of its kind in the world.” From the start of the FEED phase, Adnoc, among very few companies in the world, will implement an Integrated Project Delivery, IPD, approach.

WAM