The United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) has awarded a US$548m contract to build a new main gas pipeline at the Lower Zakum gas field, located off Abu Dhabi’s coast, that will increase the field’s production from 12 mcm/day to nearly 20 mcm/day (amounting to about 7.2 bcm/year). The engineering, procurement and construction contract was awarded to Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).
The new pipeline will cater for the increased volume of associated gas produced by the Lower Zakum field, as the field’s oil production capacity will increase to 450,000 bpd by 2025, year of the expected completion of the pipeline. In addition, ADNOC stated that the project will enable the construction of another 85 km subsea pipeline that will run from Zakum West Super Complex to Das Island, which includes provisions to construct, install and test a new platform at the Super Complex as well as a new gas receiving facility on Das Island.
The Lower Zakum field, located about 80 km north of the Abu Dhabi islands, has proven reserves of 17.2 Gboe and is owned by ADNOC (operator, 60%) Japan's INPEX (10%), China’s CNPC (10%), India's ONGC Videsh (10%), Italy's Eni (5%) and France's TotalEnergies (5%).