Saudi Aramco and ADNOC boost global oil and gas contracts activity

The increase in contract value is primarily attributed to Saudi Aramco’s 34 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) related contracts (worth over US$18 billion) for projects such as the Marjan and Berri field incremental development programme in Saudi Arabia, alongside ADNOC’s US$3.6 billion contract for the supply of 1 million t of casing and tubing to support exploration and production activity in UAE. The reported contract value is comparable to the previous quarter, which recorded US$45.5 billion in value – despite there being a slight decline in the number of contracts from 1528 in 2Q19 to 1386 in 3Q19.

The company’s latest report, ‘Q3 2019 Global Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review’, states that the upstream sector reported 1035 contracts in 3Q19, followed by midstream and downstream/petrochemical sector with 255 and 109 contracts, respectively, during the quarter.

North America recorded the most contracts with 489, representing 35% of the total in 3Q19. This was followed closely by Europe with 471 contracts, accounting for 34% of the total.

Pritam Kad, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Saudi Aramco’s commitment towards enhancing local presence is demonstrated in-line with its In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) initiative, which is designed to drive domestic value creation. The recent 34 EPC-related contracts, worth over US$18 billion, also support this initiative as most of the contract work will be undertaken by local companies/subsidiaries. On the similar note, ADNOC’s US$3.6 billion casing and tubing supply contract, awarded during 3Q, has the potential to achieve an in-country value of over 50%, which is significant.”

Of the total contracts in 3Q19, 61% were operation and maintenance (O&M) related contracts, followed by multiple-scope contracts such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement, which accounted for 12%.

Notable contracts awarded by Saudi Aramco during 3Q19, include multiple EPC-related contracts for the Marjan and Berri field Increment development programme. Some of these key contracts were McDermott International and COOEC consortium’s US$3.5 billion contract for the EPC and installation (EPCI) of a gas-oil separation plant (GOSP); McDermott International’s US$1.7 billion EPCI contract for offshore gas facilities and pipelines; Saipem Onshore’s E&C division’s two EPCI services contracts combined (worth over US$3.5 billion) for the development of the land facilities of the Abu Ali Crude expansion, oil and gas separation plant, and Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP) facilities; Tecnicas Reunidas’ US$3.36 billion EPCI contract for a gas-processing plant and recovery and fractionation facilities; and the L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) and EMAS AMC consortium’s mega contract (worth over US$1 billion) for an EPCI of oil facilities, tie-in platforms, production deck modules (wellhead decks), subsea pipelines and subsea cables, as well as the replacement of existing control gears at offshore platforms.