McDermott Wins $1bn-Plus EPCI Contract for ADNOC Gas Project

Houston-based offshore contractor McDermott has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract by ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi state oil company.

The contract covers one package in the Umm Shaif integrated gas cap and surface pressure boosting project. The scheme is a central component of the Umm Shaif long-term development plan, designed to maximise gas recovery from the field and lift gas production.

Financial details were not disclosed. The deal was described as a mega contract, a category the company defines as anything above $1bn.

Under the award, McDermott and its Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan consortium will provide the full EPCI scope for a new surface pressure-boosting facility. That covers construction and installation of a jacket and topside, together with associated brownfield modifications to existing infrastructure.

On completion, the topside will rank among the heaviest offshore modules ever installed in the Middle East. Lifts at that scale narrow the field of available heavy-lift tonnage and tend to dictate the installation window for the entire project.

McDermott will lead engineering and project management activities from its offices in the United Arab Emirates. Fabrication will be carried out at the company's joint venture yard in Qingdao, keeping the heaviest steelwork in a Chinese facility while the engineering base stays in the Gulf.

Pressure boosting is a late-life intervention. As reservoir pressure falls, gas can no longer flow unaided into the export system, and compression has to be added at the wellhead end to keep volumes moving. Umm Shaif has been producing for decades, and the gas cap development is aimed at unlocking volumes that would otherwise be left behind.

The award sits within a wider Abu Dhabi programme to lift domestic gas output, following earlier sanctioning of a $6.2bn offshore gas expansion and ultra-mega offshore packages awarded to other contractors.