Qatargas Operating Company Ltd. has tapped McDermott to deliver engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) for the North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) Offshore Fuel Gas Pipeline and Subsea Cables Project (COMP).
The COMP1 project is part of the NFPS Offshore Compression Project covering installation of new assets in Qatar's North Field, including compression complexes at seven locations to sustain gas supply to the existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) production trains for years to come.
Announced on 12 July, McDermott’s newest major contract in Qatar includes installation of 118 miles (190 km) of 32-in.-diameter subsea pipelines, 11 miles (17 km) of subsea composite cables, 116 miles (186 km) of fiber-optic cables, and 6 miles (10 km) of onshore pipelines.
McDermott will manage and engineer the project from its Doha office with fabrication taking place at the Qatar Fabrication Company (QFAB), a McDermott joint venture with Qatar’s shipping and maritime company Nakilat.
The facility is in Ras Laffan Industrial City at the Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard.
Commenting on this latest award, Mike Sutherland, McDermott senior vice president, Offshore Middle East, said the company is “delighted to deliver this key pipeline and cable infrastructure and support the extension of the production plateau for the existing LNG trains” while “we continue to (make) progress (on) the NFXP (North Field Expansion Project) offshore contract awarded to us last year.”
McDermott’s Qatar Country Manager and Vice President, Operations, Neil Gunnion, emphasized the company’s commitment to growing the local economy by “building end-to-end execution capability (for projects to be handled entirely) in-country and significantly enhancing the local fabrication platform via QFAB” to support future projects.
North Field Expansion Takes Shape as Foundational Contracts Are Awarded
In June 2022, Qatar’s North Oil Company awarded McDermott a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract in the “major category” for the Ruya Development, previously called Al-Shaheen Phase 3-Batch 1, offshore Qatar. The award remains the company’s largest-ever FEED project in the Middle East and one of the largest globally.
It covers FEED studies and deliverables suitable for an engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) project such as creating technical output data (FEED data), providing EPCIC schedule and cost estimates, and developing an early work plan for the brownfield scope with necessary site surveys.
The scope would also ensure that design of new greenfield facilities and brownfield modifications comply with applicable rules and regulations, according to McDermott which defines major contracts as those valued at $750 million to $1.5 billion.
In August 2022, Qatar Energy followed up with another FEED award for the North Field South (NFS) Offshore Pipelines and Power/FO cables Project, a part of the new infrastructure designed to supply feed gas for two additional LNG trains aimed at nearly doubling Qatar’s total LNG production to 127 mtpa from the current 77 mtpa.
The new contract is in addition to the awards received by McDermott at the start of 2022 for the NFS jackets, topsides, and pipelines for the NFXP and covers FEED studies for offshore and onshore pipelines, cables, and associated facilities, the company reported at the time.
In May, QatarEnergy awarded the EPC contract for NFS to a joint venture of France’s Technip Energies and Greece-based Consolidated Contractors Company which covers two LNG mega trains with a combined capacity of 16 mtpa.
