Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG), the joint venture between Australia’s Leighton Holdings and the Al Habtoor business empire, has secured a major contract for the design and construction of accommodation and utilities for artificial islands being constructed in the Zakum Development Company’s (ZADCO) Upper Zakum offshore oil field development in Abu Dhabi.
HLG CEO and Managing Director Laurie Voyer said the new project, which is located 84 km off the coast of Abu Dhabi, reflected the Group’s strategy of diversifying the composition of its order book, and builds on the Group’s reputation as one of the leading diversified international contractors in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Over recent times, we’ve made a conscious effort to diversify HLG’s workload, and securing oil and gas-related projects such as this are part of our approach”.
A key aspect of the project’s delivery is logistics – with ZADCO acknowledging HLG’s vast experience in delivering complex projects in difficult and remote locations.
“By successfully delivering this project according to ZADCO’s program, HLG is in an ideal position to secure additional oil and gas-related work for ZADCO and other oil and gas companies across the region
“The UAE remains our largest geographic market and we expect it remain so for some time,” he said.
HLG’s scope of work comprises the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of accommodation, supporting buildings and permanent utilities, including accommodation for 2,150 people, kitchen, mess hall, clinic, laundry, recreational areas and mosque, and operations and drilling offices and workshops
The project will commence immediately and is anticipated to be completed in August 2015.
ZADCO has embarked on the Upper Zakum Field Development (UZFD) program which is aimed at achieving a target oil production plateau rate of 750,000 bpd from the Upper Zakum field and to sustain this production target for at least 25 years utilizing the artificial island based drilling and production centres.
In an interview with the Australian Financial Review in May, Stephen Johns, Leighton Holdings’s Chairman, said he was unhappy with how the joint venture company Al Habtoor Leighton was faring in the wake of the financial crisis.
“With hindsight, no, we’re not happy with [Al Habtoor Leighton], we should never have gone into it,” he was reported as saying.
