Qatar Awards $6B Build Contracts for Key Oil Field

QatarEnergy has awarded contracts worth over $6 billion for main works in the next-phase development of the Gulf state’s biggest oil field, the state-owned oil and gas company said. Project Ru’ya, the third development project for the Al-Shaheen field since the takeover in 2017 by a joint venture of QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies SE, targets to recover over 550 million barrels of oil. To be executed over five years, the project expects to start production 2027 with a target of raising output from the offshore field by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Ru’ya involves drilling more than 200 wells and installing a new centralized processing platform, nine remote wellhead platforms and pipelines. A consortium between McDermott Middle East Inc. and Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan Offshore Engineering Co. won the highest contract among the four main EPCI (engineering, procurement, construction and installation) awards that QatarEnergy announced Wednesday. The consortium will supply nine wellhead platforms valued $2.1 billion in total. Another consortium of McDermott, with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., will supply the central processing platform for $1.9 billion. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. has received a $1.3-billion contract for a riser platform. A $900-million package for subsea pipelines and cables has gone to China Offshore Oil Engineering Co. “By awarding these contracts, we are taking an important step towards realizing the full potential of Al-Shaheen filed, which produces around half of Qatar’s crude oil today”, QatarEnergy president and chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in a news release. Sitting 80 kilometers (37.3 miles) off Qatari gas hub Ras Laffan Industrial City on the country’s north coast, Al-Shaheen has been producing 300,000 bpd since 2007 according to QatarEnergy. Discovered mid-1970s, Al-Shaheen started production 1994, according to QatarEnergy, which had renamed from Qatar Petroleum 2021. In 2022 Al-Shaheen reached production records, peaking at 305,000 bpd, the North Oil Co. (NOC), which runs the field, says on its website. NOC, a partnership between French energy giant TotalEnergies (30 percent) and QatarEnergy (70 percent), has taken over operatorship from Maersk Oil and Gas AS. The Danish company left Qatar after losing in 2016 to TotalEnergies in the auction for a license granting another 25 years of operatorship. NOC says production at Al-Shaheen is a “huge challenge” due to the tightness of reservoirs, which presents risks of well collision. Five jack-up rigs are serving the field, according to NOC. All of Qatar’s oil fields have reached maturity, and with decline rates high, the country is using enhanced oil recovery in redevelopment projects to sustain production, according to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA).“Because all of Qatar’s oil fields are mature, Qatar’s crude oil production declined from its highest level of 852,000 b/d in 2008 to 616,000 b/d in 2022”, the EIA said in its latest country report for Qatar, published March. Al-Kaabi hailed Al-Shaheen’s developers for their “great efforts towards unlocking the true potential of Qatar’s hydrocarbon resources and maximizing value from Al-Shaheen field through the implementation of world-class development and operational excellence programs”. TotalEnergies is also a partner in Qatar’s North Field natural gas development.