WATCH: First steel cut for mega gas project set on zero-emission ops by entwining smart tech, carbon capture, hydrogen, nuclear, and renewable power

The UAE’s energy giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has held a ceremony to mark the cutting of the first steel for structures that will be placed at a massive sour gas development off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is envisioned to have fully unmanned offshore facilities and operate with zero emissions.

ADNOC’s multibillion-dollar Hail and Ghasha gas development project is part of Abu Dhabi’s Ghasha concession, which is said to be the world’s largest offshore sour gas development encompassing the Hail, Ghasha, Dalma, Nasr, Satah al Razboot (SARB), Bu Haseer, Shuweihat, and Mubarraz offshore sour gas fields.

Given the need for more infrastructure to develop, drill, and produce recoverable gas resources from these fields in the first phase of the Ghasha concession, the UAE awarded the dredging, land reclamation, and marine construction contract to the UAE’s National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) for the construction of ten artificial islands and two causeways, along with the expansion of an existing island, Al Ghaf.

All artificial islands bear names of pearl diving sites in the area as a way to capture the region’s history: Ghanem, Sawalem, Chananiz, Mudaifena, Reeah, Seebeh, Seemeh, Shalhah, Jzool, and Duroob. ADNOC also awarded ADNOC Drilling two substantial contracts in late July 2022, totaling $2 billion for integrated drilling services and the provision of four island drilling units.

The rigs were to be deployed at the Hail and Ghasha gas development project, which is perceived to be a key component of the operator’s integrated gas masterplan given its potential to be an important enabler of gas self-sufficiency for the UAE and also a bridge to the net zero future, since gas is often portrayed as a transition fuel that emits less carbon than coal.

Therefore, ADNOC is convinced that this mega gas project will provide lower-carbon energy to help power the growth of the UAE industry, with over 60% of the project’s value planned to be reinvested into the country’s economy.

“We celebrated a milestone earlier this month in Abu Dhabi by marking the first cut-of-steel for the project’s subsea structures. We’ll continue to work with high-quality local suppliers through our In-Country Value program, which has driven more than $51 billion back into the UAE economy since 2018. The pioneering project will play a vital role in meeting the UAE’s goal of gas self-sufficiency and rising demand for exports,”  highlighted ADNOC.

First steel cut for Hail and Ghasha gas mega project’s offshore facilities

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The operator claims that this project will tick off many firsts on the global energy wish list, presenting it as the world-first gas project aimed to operate with net zero emissions, the first oil and gas project in the world that will have a 100% unmanned operation for offshore facilities, and the first development in the oil and gas industry, where an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach was implemented from the concept phase to the execution phase.

A final investment decision (FID) for the Hail and Ghasha offshore gas development was made last year, reinforcing the UAE player’s accelerated decarbonization agenda and supporting its net-zero by 2045 ambition and aspirations to double its carbon capture capacity target to 10 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of CO2 by 2030.

A consortium led by National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), a subsidiary of National Marine Dredging Company, which also includes Saipem and China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation (CPECC), won a pre-construction service agreement (PCSA) for offshore facilities in January 2023, several months before FID was taken for the gas development.

Since the Ghasha fields are located within the Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, west of Abu Dhabi Island,  ADNOC pooled resources with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and conducted, what it deems to be, one of the largest marine environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies ever undertaken in the Middle Eastern country in a bid to protect the biodiverse marine environment.

The obtained insights were used to design plans to mitigate the risks. One of these is encapsulated by using artificial islands, which are seen as a way to provide habitats to marine life by eliminating the need to dredge over 100 locations for wells. According to the UAE energy giant, the Hail and Ghasha development’s environmental footprint was minimized through onshore and offshore clustering technologies, as they enabled the drilling of several wells from a common location.

ADNOC does not shy away from innovative technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) milestones, as it is exploring ways to make use of innovations to optimize its existing and new projects, making them ready to face net zero music one step at a time. In line with the UAE player’s nearly lifelong love affair with technological advancements, the Ghasha development is created to employ smart technology across all operations, allowing operators, technicians, and site personnel remote access to the project’s key operations.

The company underlines that a digital approach enables the optimization of work procedures, strengthens data integration, and improves real-time decision-making from sub-surface to drill centers and ground facilities. With this in mind, ADNOC Drilling recently secured another multimillion-dollar assignment for drilling work at a huge oil field located approximately 84 km northwest of Abu Dhabi, which brings three newbuilds enhanced with new technology and automation to the firm’s fleet, resulting in a 148-strong rig fleet. 

Honghua Group (HH) is in charge of constructing the rig trio as part of a partnership the two companies forged to tap into the transformative nature of AI, digitization, and advanced technology during the design and operation of these next-generation drilling units. These rigs will be built for extended-reach drilling (ERD) and walk between wells to eliminate the need for dismantling activities during rig moves, improving efficiency and safety while slashing costs and emissions.

ADNOC’s thirst to blaze new trails in the energy industry by incorporating advanced technologies is on full display in the course it has carted for the Hail and Ghasha gas project. Aiming to enable its technical personnel that will work on the development to respond promptly when an intervention is required, the project’s remote facilities will be operated from a central control center in Al Manayif, depicted as one of the largest automation control systems in the Middle East, holding the reins of all offshore and onshore operations.

The fully unmanned facility will be pieced together to ensure the use of high-tech sensors, drones, rail cameras, inspection robots, and other moving vessels, which will be micro-chipped and monitored from an onshore central control room. Another ingredient that ADNOC is mixing in its recipe specifically crafted to ensure the longevity of its upcoming project, is artificial intelligence, such as predictive maintenance for all critical rotating equipment.

The firm also intends to reap all benefits of digital twin technology to improve the efficiency of onshore and offshore operations, as this digital tool can add value to production planning, efficiency, performance, and personnel by capturing, aggregating, and analyzing operational data, improving production system efficiency while monitoring and reporting on assets performance.

Moreover, ADNOC underscores that the Ghasha project is the ace in its In-Country Value (ICV) program since this highest playing card in the UAE giant’s roadmap to step up its socio-economic growth game is estimated to pour back an ICV of 40% into the UAE economy over the project’s lifetime. As many as 30,000 to 40,000 contractor staff will be working during the peak construction period while the production phase will bring hundreds of job opportunities to UAE nationals.

The project was envisioned to push the boundaries and step into unchartered waters to reach greener shores by navigating the familiar peaks and valleys of a low-carbon shift through digitally optimized terrains. To turn its low-emission concept into reality, ADNOC will bundle a string of advanced technologies together into one integrated solution to capture 1.5 million tonnes per year of CO2 while producing low-carbon hydrogen, which can replace gas as fuel to speed up emission reduction.

In addition, this mega undertaking will throw clean energy into the mix to enrich the gas development with nuclear and renewable sources, empowering ADNOC’s decarbonization mission and enabling the huge gas project to reach its vision of operating with net zero emissions. The production from the Ghasha concession is scheduled to start around 2025. 

A few weeks ago, the UAE confirmed an increase in production levels at one of its oil fields off the coast of Abu Dhabi, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies to meet the growing global energy demand. The firm is also working on the Ruwais LNG project in Al Ruwais Industrial City, Abu Dhabi, for which it recently got a hold of a third long-term LNG supply agreement to deliver 0.6 million mtpa of LNG.

The UAE energy giant recently boosted its energy portfolio with new acquisitions. Following its entrance into the U.S. thanks to agreements for LNG offtake and an equity position in the Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) export project located in Texas, ADNOC made its first investment in Mozambique by getting its hands on a 10% interest in the Area 4 concession, joining other players in the Rovuma supergiant gas basin.

After hosting the second ‘Advancing Towards Zero Methane’ forum with the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), an industry-wide gathering to accelerate the transition to a zero-methane future, ADNOC emphasized the tools it was using to make progress in that arena.

The key to the UAE energy heavyweight’s inroads in the decarbonization and methane abatement arenas lies in the deployment of technologies such as satellite monitoring, drone-mounted sensors, and infrared cameras, enabling it to further clamp down on methane emissions and reach its near-zero target by 2030.