ADNOC Onshore, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., has let a contract to further expand production capacity of giant Bab oil field, one of its largest onshore producing assets.
Archirodon Construction Overseas SA Co. (Archirodon) has the $489-million engineering, procurement, and construction contract covering facilities and infrastructure to sustain long-term capacity at 485,000 b/d of crude oil. The contract, which has a term of 39 months, was announced at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) in Abu Dhabi.
In November 2017, ADNOC announced expansion of Bab capacity to 450,000 b/d from 420,000 b/d by 2020 (OGJ Online, Nov. 15, 2017). ADNOC, now producing about 3 million b/d of oil, expects to increase its total production capacity to 4 million b/d by yearend 2020 and to 5 million b/d by 2030.
Bab field, 160 km southwest of Abu Dhabi city, produces Murban crude, for which the emirate has announced it will allow forward trading on international exchanges (OGJ Online, Nov. 5, 2019). The Intercontinental Exchange plans to open the ICE Futures Abu Dhabi exchange in Abu Dhabi Global Market and launch a Murban futures contract in the first half of next year.
Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, executive director of ADNOC’s upstream directorate, said, “This award follows an extremely competitive and rigorous tender process that ensures that over 75% of the award value will flow into the UAE’s economy, stimulating local economic growth and nurturing new business opportunities for the private sector.”
The scope of the Bab field upgrade project includes production, water-injection, and artificial-lift wells; well bays, letdown stations; and water-injection clusters.
Yaser Saeed Al Mazrouei, chief executive officer of ADNOC Onshore, said the project would minimize life-cycle costs on the field, unlocking “the full potential of the field’s existing assets and wells, while tapping into new reservoirs to sustain long-term production output.”
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].
