Saudi Aramco Awards Contract Worth $4.5 Billion To Expand Zuluf Offshore Oilfield

Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Saudi Aramco has taken the first step to expand its massive Zuluf offshore oilfield in the Persian Gulf by awarding contracts together worth more than $4.5 billion for five key packages. Aramco launched the tenders last year, tagged them contract release purchase orders (CRPOs).

Aramco recently placed letters of intent (LoI’s) to three leading international offshore contractors for a quintet of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages comprising the Zuluf incremental production project according to several people familiar with the development.

“LoI’s have been placed and the formal signing is expected within weeks,” one said.

The prized (EPC) Packages for the huge expansion scheme has been landed by McDermott International of the US, a pairing of India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) with Oslo-listed Subsea 7 and Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

McDermott won one package, while the L&T-Subsea 7 partnership and NPCC have been awarded two packages each, Upstream understands.

The Zuluf incremental project is a key element of Saudi Arabia’s strategy to boost its oil production capacity from the existing 12 million BPD level to 13 million barrels per day.

Saudi Aramco is scaling up capacity as it seeks to maintain its position as the largest crude oil exporter in the world and meet up with production in line with the Opec+ agreement.

Five Contract Winners

McDermott has won the first package — called CRPO 79 — covering multiple segments of onshore and offshore 42-inch oil trunklines.

The L&T-Subsea 7 consortium has landed the second and third packages, CRPO 80 & CRPO 81, Upstream understands.

The second package — CRPO 80 — comprises nine water-injection wellhead topsides, two water-injection tie-in platforms, infield lines, and subsea cables.

CRPO 81 — comprises multiple additional water-injection wellhead topsides, one water-injection tie-in platform plus associated offshore infrastructure.

In addition, UAE-based fabrication giant NPCC has won the fourth and fifth Zuluf packages, CRPO 82 & CRPO 83, according to project watchers.

The fourth package — CRPO 82 — includes at least 12 oil-handling wellhead topsides, two oil tie-in platforms, and one electrical distribution platform, while the fifth one — CRPO 83 — is made up of 12 additional oil-handling wellhead topsides, two oil tie-in platforms, as well as infield pipelines and cables.