McDermott International has been on a global winning streak, signing up new work across the globe related to various high-profile oil and gas projects. In the Middle East, the contractor was selected for a mega offshore contract from QatarEnergy to deliver engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) for the North Field East (NFE) topsides and the NFE offshore pipelines and subsea cables projects, with an option included to also award the North Field South (NFS) offshore topsides. The award represents one of the largest single contracts McDermott has received in its company history.
The scope of the contract includes the fabrication and installation of eight wellhead topsides (WHT) for NFE and a further five WHT for NFS. The subsea pipeline scope includes more than 500 km of pipelines and, in addition, McDermott will install more than 225 km of 33-kV subsea cables and associated works.
For the first time, four of these WHT, plus all subsea infrastructure, will be fabricated by Qatar Fabrication Company (QFAB), a joint venture between Qatar’s shipping and maritime company, Nakilat, and McDermott, improving the in-country execution platform to support future energy developments.
The remaining fabrication will be done in collaboration with McDermott's facility in Batam, Indonesia.
The NFE development will provide feed gas into the four new LNG trains currently under construction and, together, with the NFS infrastructure, which will provide feed gas for the future additional two LNG trains, will enable an increase in total LNG production in Qatar from 77 mtpa to 126 mtpa.
In Australia, and after successfully completing the front-end engineering design for the Scarborough project, McDermott has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning services contract by Woodside for the floating production unit (FPU) destined for offshore Western Australia. The integrated scope also includes the design, fabrication, integration, transportation, and installation of the hull and topsides.
The topside, which will be around 30,000 tons, will be fabricated by McDermott's joint venture fabrication yard, Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan, in China. The project scope includes a battery energy storage system to reduce emissions on the topsides and support Woodside's net emissions reduction targets.
Engineering expertise will be leveraged from McDermott's Kuala Lumpur and Gurgaon offices, with McDermott's subsea team in Perth supporting transport, installation, hookup, and commissioning activities.
The FPU processes natural gas, which includes gas separation, dehydration, and compression as well as monoethylene glycol regeneration and produced-water handling. Designed for a production capacity of up to 1.8 Bcf/D, the topside will be connected to the semisubmersible hull and precommissioned prior to transportation and installation in a water depth of 950 m, approximately 400 km offshore Western Australia. It will be capable of being remotely operated and minimally staffed during normal production operations.
In Saudi Arabia, McDermott netted three new awards for EPCI projects. In total, the contractor will provide EPCI work on four drilling jackets and seven oil production deck modules (PDMs) in Saudi Arabia's Zuluf, Ribyan, Abu Sa'fah, and Safaniya fields located in the Arabian Gulf.
In addition to the seven PDMs and four drilling jackets, the scope of work for the three contract release purchase orders (CRPOs) includes EPCI of more than 45 km of pipelines, more than 100 km of subsea cables, and tie-in works to existing facilities. Fabrication is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022, with offshore installation beginning fourth quarter of 2022 and overall completion expected second quarter of 2023.
Elsewhere, McDermott recently completed an LNG construction study identifying tangible reduction pathways toward net-zero construction emissions on behalf of Shell Global Solutions International. The results of this study provide a strategic framework for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in LNG facilities during the project execution phase.
Study results include emission-reduction opportunities, in order of magnitude, based on mapping key sources and the identification of low-carbon alternatives during construction. These include site efficiency improvements, replacing diesel-powered equipment with lower-GHG-intensity alternatives, module fabrication and construction, and sourcing lower-intensity raw materials. The study also provides more clarity on the associated environmental, social, and economic considerations of future projects.
Building on this study, McDermott is also engaging with Shell to identify low-carbon solutions to help reduce GHG emissions in McDermott's operations.
