New milestone for Technip Energies, as it wraps up work on mega offshore oil project

France-based engineering company Technip Energies has completed all its contractual obligations related to the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) work for the second phase of an offshore oil field in the Arabian Gulf, 40 km northwest of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The original contract, worth around $1.69 billion out of which about 35% was Technip’s share, for the engineering, procurement, and construction work on the Umm Lulu Phase II full field development project was awarded in August 2013 to the French player, in a consortium led by National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), by Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO), a joint venture (JV) operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC, 60%).

Technip was expected to handle the engineering segment of the project and share the procurement and commissioning works with NPCC, which would tackle the fabrication and installation of the facilities. The Umm Lulu platforms were to be installed by the floatover method developed by the French firm to enable a high proportion of the hook-up and pre-commissioning work to be completed onshore before load-out, significantly reducing both the duration and cost of the offshore commissioning phase.

The contract’s scope of work entailed the detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication, offshore installation, commissioning, and start-up of a large offshore super complex comprising six bridge-linked platforms, including gathering, separation, gas treatment, and water disposal facilities, utilities, and accommodation modules, totaling over 66,000 metric tons with associated jackets, flares, bridges, and subsea composite cables.

The Umm Lulu field has been developed in two phases with the first encompassing the initial production through brownfield modification of two existing wellhead towers. According to Technip, Phase II, which has received final acceptance, is part of the Umm Lulu Super Complex and spans 1.1 km. The French player underscores that it played “an important role” in the project by handling the full engineering, procurement, commissioning, and start-up processes while supporting its partner during fabrication and offshore installation activities.

“It’s official! We’re pleased to announce that our client ADNOC Group Offshore has issued the final acceptance certificate for the Umm Lulu Phase II full field development project. This milestone confirms that our consortium with Abu Dhabi’s NMDC Group has met all contractual obligations,” highlighted Technip Energies.

The newest partner that joined ADNOC’s project recently is SOCAR, which secured a 3% participating interest in the SARB and Umm Lulu offshore concession as its first international upstream investment foray, expanding the duo’s collaboration across the energy value chain and building upon the strategic energy partnership between the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan. 

The operator of SARB and Umm Lulu is deploying digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for remote monitoring, smart well operations, and production management to optimize production efficiency, reduce emissions, enhance safety, and increase production capacity. The fields also use intelligent well surveillance (IWS) technology to operate wells at optimum rates to drive operational efficiency.

ADNOC has taken steps to boost its energy portfolio with new gas acquisitions, including entrance into the U.S. thanks to agreements for LNG offtake and an equity position in the Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) export project in Texas and the firm’s first investment in Mozambique, enabling it to get a 10% interest in the Area 4 concession, joining other players in the Rovuma supergiant gas basin.

On the other hand, Technip Energies won an EPC contract for an LNG project in Sohar, Oman, which is being developed by Marsa LNG, an integrated company consisting of TotalEnergies and Oman’s OQ national oil company (NOC).