Expansion of Qatar’s huge 30-year-old oil field brings subsea cable order to Hengtong

China-based power cable system solutions provider Hengtong Submarine Power Cable, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hengtong Group, has confirmed that HMN Technologies will manufacture and construct the submarine fiber optic cable system, including branch units for a project, which is said to be the most important and strategic one for the future of Qatar’s largest offshore oil field.

The submarine fiber optic cable system order, which HMN Technologies of Hengtong Group received, is for the New Fiber Link (NFL) project at the Al Shaheen field, where demand for the digitalization of its facilities continues to rise. This is described as the largest oil field offshore Qatar.

As Al Shaheen has been in operation since the oil first came out in 1994, the NFL project, which is expected to be completed by early 2026, is anticipated to provide a steady, safe, effective, and large bandwidth to the field, so that, both the existing and future expansion could be facilitated, according to Hengtong.

The Al-Shaheen oil field approximately 80 km northeast off the coast of Qatar is said to be one of the world’s largest offshore oil fields, featuring 40 existing platforms and up to 430 operational wells. The field is operated by North Oil Company (NOC), a joint venture between QatarEnergy (70%) and TotalEnergies (30%).

Boskalis installed the latest central processing platform (CPP) topside at the oil field in September 2024. QatarEnergy aims to develop more than 550 million barrels of oil over five years, encompassing the drilling of more than 200 wells and the installation of a new centralized process complex, nine remote wellhead platforms, and associated pipelines.

The first oil is slated for 2027. QatarEnergy disclosed plans to boost oil production from its Al-Shaheen field by about 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in January 2024 when it disclosed four multibillion-dollar engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract packages, which are part of Project Ru’ya.

The Persian Gulf state’s energy heavyweight hired McDermott, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Larsen & Toubro Limited, and China Offshore Oil Engineering Co (COOEC) to handle the third phase of Al-Shaheen’s development since North Oil Company took over the field’s operation in July 2017.

McDermott was also recently picked for an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) assignment related to pipelines and cables required to expand Qatar’s 1971-discovered North Field.

Qatar’s energy giant is also pursuing its LNG fleet expansion program through the execution of shipbuilding contracts and time charter agreements for 104 conventional LNG vessels and 24 QC-Max class LNG ships, amounting to a total of 128 ultra-modern vessels, with the naming ceremony for the first two ships held last month.