Mar 04 | 2019
Oil major Saudi Aramco has awarded a “substantial” contract for the development of its offshore Marjan field, to engineering services firm McDermott.
The engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract will include major breakbulk transport including the TP-10 tie-in platform, six gas lift topside modules and associated pipeline and subsea cables.
"This award demonstrates the strong market appeal of our value-driven and highly integrated offering of products and services. McDermott has extensive practical operational experience in the region which gives assurance to our customers of our ability to deliver projects safely, on time and to budget,” said Linh Austin, senior vice president at McDermott.
The total weight of the structures will exceed 27,000 tonnes and pipeline components totaling over 65 kilometers will be supplied.
Vision 2030
The giant Marjan project is part of vast investment program by Saudi Aramco, initiated after its failed attempt at an initial public offering last year. The state-owned firm recently unveiled plans for a three-phase energy and industrialization hub at Salman Energy Park, or Spark, be located between Dammam and Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
The proposed hub would develop in parallel with construction of the Marjan field, acting as a locus for breakbulk activity and manufacturing under the Saudi Vision 2030 program, as well as providing well-drilling and maintenance area and a specialised training zone.
Aramco to Cut Fuel Oil Production
A further pillar of the firm’s Vision 2030 program involved an announcement this week to end production of marine fuel oil at its refineries by 2024 in response to tougher environmental regulations.
Citing a decline in demand, due to shipping industry limits set to come into force in 2020, the group announced it would cut its current production of 206,000 barrels per day of fuel oil.
“We have lined up all the investment needed to take the vacuum resid off the bottom of the barrel into distillates and gasoline as well as chemicals,” said Abdulaziz M. Al-Judaimi, senior vice president at Aramco, in comments to Platts. He added that “85 percent of our refining assets are IMO-compliant, meaning that we have 15 percent of our refining assets requiring further upgrades on the bottom of the barrel.”
Photo: Offshore platform. Credit: Wikimedia
