Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced the award of a $510 million Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract to expand the capacity of its Shah Sour Gas Plant.
The EPC contract for the Optimum Shah Gas Expansion (OSGE) project was awarded by ADNOC Sour Gas – a subsidiary of ADNOC – to Italy’s Saipem after a competitive tender process.
Expected to be completed in 2023, the OSGE project is forecasted to increase the processing capacity of the Shah Gas Plant by 13%, from 1.28 to 1.45 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd).
Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, ADNOC’s upstream executive director, said, “The Shah Gas Expansion Project is an excellent example of how ADNOC is growing its gas production at existing fields to deliver a more sustainable gas supply and support the UAE’s gas self-sufficiency objective. Importantly, the In-Country Value generated from the EPC contract award will help to stimulate the growth of the private sector and local economy as we navigate the post-COVID-19 recovery and continue to meet the future energy needs of our nation.”
The scope of the project includes all associated off-sites and utilities necessary to integrate the new facilities with existing installations, seamlessly. From gas gathering facilities, the main gas plant, product pipelines, and the sulfur granulation plant, plant modifications have been designed to work safely with existing facilities without any impact on the integrity of the plant while minimising effects on production during construction, interfacing and commissioning.
CEO of ASG, Tayba Al Hashemi, said, “Shah’s expansion will optimise the plant as well as improve both capacity and higher-end product recoveries, further growing our contribution as a safe and reliable supplier of gas to ADNOC and the UAE. It enhances Shah’s position as a hub of sour operations expertise, developing the skills and experience of the next generation of Emirati professionals. Saipem was awarded this contract following a rigorous, competitive tender process.”
ADNOC Sour Gas, a joint venture between ADNOC and Occidental, adopts an integrated single-field approach that covers upstream, midstream, and downstream activities. It operates the Shah field, which is located 210 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi city, and is the only company in the world that processes more than 1 billion SCFD of ultra-sour gas from a single gas plant which also produces approximately 5% of the world’s granulated sulfur.
