The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) awarded the two Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contracts for ADNOC’s planned offshore ultra-sour gas mega project, which consists of the Hail, Ghasha and Dalma fields. Bechtel (UK) was awarded Hail & Ghasha FEED Contract and TechnipFMC (UAE) was awarded Dalma FEED Contract.

In man-hours, the two FEED contracts, collectively, are the largest awarded by an oil and gas company, underpinning the criticality of a detailed FEED phase to optimize project cost and schedule. The project, in the northwest offshore area of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, could meet 20 percent of the UAE’s gas demand by the second half of the next decade.

H.E. 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 further harness its gas resources, as part of its 2030 smart growth strategy. This FEED award provides ADNOC with the potential to unlock additional undeveloped sour gas reserves and will allow us to deliver against our strategic objective to ensure a sustainable and economic supply of gas.”

In addition to awarding the FEED contracts, ADNOC is near to awarding five technology licensor contracts, covering a gas treatment licensor; a sulphur recovery unit (SRU) licensor; a natural gas liquids (NGL) licensor; a condensates recovery (hydro treaters) licensor and a 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 both FEED contracts came after a rigorous and extremely competitive tendering process, ensuring we will strictly manage costs by working with contractors that can deploy effective engineering and robust value-add technologies. In progressing with these projects, we create the potential to capitalize 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 will implement, for the first time, an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach. This will enable it to reduce the project’s development schedule and cost by integrating and involving all relevant stakeholders. Relevant stakeholders are potential EPC bidders, major manufacturers and governmental bodies, who are critical to improve design quality, identify uncertainties and enhance the precision of required engineering jobs.

As part of ADNOC’s selection criteria for the FEED commercial evaluation process, the company carefully considered the extent to which bidders would help to drive in-country value (ICV) for the UAE. By integrating ICV criteria into ADNOC’s overall commercial evaluation process, the company is delivering on its new in-country value strategy, aimed at nurturing new local and international partnerships and opportunities, catalysing socio-economic growth, improving knowledge transfer, and creating job opportunities for UAE nationals.

The Hail, Gasha and Dalma project taps into Abu Dhabi’s Arab formation, which is estimated to hold multiple trillions of cubic feet of recoverable gas and from which the project is expected to produce more than one billion cubic feet of gas per day (cfd), enough gas to provide electricity to two million homes.

The awarding of FEED contracts follows the awarding of the Project Management Consultancy and artificial islands Design and Survey Contracts to Artelia and KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown and Root.

About the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)

ADNOC is one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies and is fully owned by the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The company was founded in 1971 and is active in all areas of the oil and gas industry.
It has 17 specialized subsidiaries and joint ventures operating in both upstream and downstream sectors. The ADNOC Group is active in the United Arab Emirates and across the whole world and produces more than 2.7 million boe a day. In the past few years, significant achievements were made in the expansion of the development of gas fields to meet the increased demand from industry gas users; and gas injection requirements in order to enhance the oil and condensate recovery from the producing fields.
While carrying out all its business activities, ADNOC is committed to sustainable development, ensuring a harmonious balance between people’s needs and Earth’s resources, adhering to the best international practices and supporting all programs and initiatives of environment protection while its track record in HSE sets the standard not only at the regional Gulf level but at the international level as well.

About Bechtel

Bechtel is one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies. Together with our customers, we deliver landmark projects that foster long-term progress and economic growth. Since 1898, we’ve completed more than 25,000 extraordinary projects across 160 countries on all seven continents. We operate through four global businesses: Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals.
Our company and our culture are built on more than a century of leadership and a relentless adherence to our values, the core of which are safety, quality, ethics, and integrity. These values are what we believe, what we expect, what we deliver, and what we live.

About TechnipFMC

TechnipFMC is a global leader in subsea, onshore/offshore, and surface projects. With our proprietary technologies and production systems, integrated expertise, and comprehensive solutions, we are transforming our clients’ project economics.

We are uniquely positioned to deliver greater efficiency across project lifecycles from concept to project delivery and beyond. Through innovative technologies and improved efficiencies, our offering unlocks new possibilities for our clients in developing their oil and gas resources.

Each of our more than 40,000 employees is driven by a steady commitment to clients and a culture of purposeful innovation, challenging industry conventions, and rethinking how the best results are achieved.