Price bids for the two EPCM deals for Abu Dhabi’s South East and North East Bab assets being evaluated by the operator.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is nearing the decision phase on two prized engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contracts for the expansion of its South East and North East Bab oilfield assets.
The state giant’s P5 production enhancement plan aims to increase Abu Dhabi’s crude production to 5 million barrels per day by 2027, with the operator expected to spend up to $150 billion over the next three to four years.
Billions of dollars’ worth of upstream-focused oil and gas deals were awarded by the company and its subsidiaries last year, with multiple projects said to be in the bidding stage now.
Commercial offers for the two EPCM deals were recently submitted by up to five players, with the operator likely to award the contracts within weeks, two people familiar with the development told Upstream.
“Price bids are currently being evaluated by Adnoc and a decision is likely as early as April,” one person noted.
Those believed to have submitted price bids to Adnoc include China Petroleum Engineering & Construction (CPECC), Engineers India (EIL), Egypt’s ENPPI, Greek player Archirodon and Middle-East-based Kent, another person noted.
The quintet earlier this year submitted technical offers to Adnoc and were later qualified to progress to the project’s next bidding phase, industry sources said.
The most recent EPCM projects on offer are a part of Adnoc’s P5 plan and together involve “off-plot” onshore facilities required at its South East and North East Bab assets, with the two developments potentially worth upwards of $3 billion.
The expansion of the South East and North East Bab onshore assets is being taken up by separate “on-plot” and “off-plot” developments.
While the “on plot” projects are being executed on an engineering, procurement and construction model, the two “off plot” developments are being tendered on an EPCM basis, Upstream understands.
Contractors are separately chasing two separate “on plot” EPC deals comprising the expansion phase of the South East and North East Bab projects, sources said.
Adnoc’s huge expansion project involving the South East onshore asset aims to produce 132,000 bpd of additional oil by 2027, to achieve a total of 762,000 bpd of production from the onshore asset.
The incremental oil production being targeted from the North East Bab asset could not be confirmed by Upstream.
Bab contract award
CPECC last year secured a contract from Adnoc Onshore for an EPCM contract for work on the ground facilities required at the Bab and Bu Hasa oilfields, Upstream reported.
The project is being executed by CPPEC’s subsidiaries in the Middle East and Beijing, and construction is expected to last more than four years.
Upon completion of the project, the Bab oilfield’s production is projected to increase by 91,000 bpd, while Bu Hasa’s output is anticipated to increase by 100,000 bpd.
In addition, Adnoc extended a comparable EPCM contract to CPECC in May 2023 for Project Swing, which covers the retrofitting of existing facilities at the Bab, Northeast Bab and Southeast Bab fields.