LNG

Saipem has shipped a key offshore platform jacket for Romania’s Neptun Deep project, led by OMV Petrom and Romgaz with up to €4 billion investment combined. Neptun Deep is expected to produce about 100 bcm of natural gas, bolstering Eastern Europe’s energy security and reducing dependence on imported LNG.

Saipem, the Italian energy and LNG engineering company specializing in subsea work, has signed a letter of award with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc)  for a new contract related to the Hail and Ghasha natural gas development project in the United Arab Emirates.

Saipem said its share of the contract amounts to around $4.1 billion and has been awarded in consortium with the Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

The project is aimed at developing the resources of the Hail and Ghasha natural gas fields, located offshore Abu Dhabi.

The fields lie in the Ghasha Concession block in water depth of around 328 feet and are expected to start commercial production in the next couple of years.

Saipem said the project scope of work encompassed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of four drilling centres and one processing plant to be built on artificial islands, as well as various offshore structures and more than 300 kilometres (187 miles) of subsea pipelines.

Integrated

“The award is in line with Saipem’s unique capability to deliver integrated onshore and offshore projects, providing its clients with a single and reliable interface for complex full-field developments,” said the Milan-based company.

“Saipem will leverage on its state-of-the-art shallow water offshore vessels, its advanced welding technology for corrosion resistant materials, as well as its renowned engineering expertise,” Saipem added.

“This award reinforces Saipem’s long-standing relationship with ADNOC and further consolidates the company’s presence in Abu Dhabi, which includes an Engineering and Project Execution Centre, as well as a new Offshore Logistic base in Zayed Port,” Saipem explained. 

ADNOC’s partners in the Hail and Ghasha gas development with a concession term of 40 years include Italy’s Eni, Germany’s Wintershall Dea and Austria’s OMV.

The multi-billion-dollar Hail and Ghasha project is also seen as playing a vital role in meeting the UAE’s gas self-sufficiency objectives.

It also comes at a time when a second UAE LNG production project plant is being developed at Al Ruwais Industrial City. The Ruwais LNG project consists of two 4.8 million metric tonnes annum liquefaction Trains with a total nameplate capacity of 9.6 MTPA.

The existing liquefaction plant on Das Island in the Arabian Gulf currently has export capacity of 6 MTPA. 

July 28 (LNGJ) - UK major BP and Austrian energy company OMV have signed a long-term sale and purchase agreement covering supply of up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per annum to the land-locked Austrians for 10 years from 2026.

   “Under the terms of the agreement, BP will provide OMV with LNG from its diverse and global portfolio of LNG, which will be received and regasified through the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where OMV holds regasification capacity, or other terminals in Europe,” BP said.

Nov 22 (LNGJ) - OMV AG of Austria, the energy and utility company, plans to cooperate on LNG with Gazprom after the Russian natural gas giant increased deliveries of pipeline gas to the Austrians for a fifth straight year. For the period from January 1 to November 21, 2019, Gazprom delivered 12.7 billion cubic metres to Austria, which was 2.8 percent more than in all of 2018 when deliveries came to 12.3Bcm.

OMV is one of the five European corporate investors in the Nord Steam II project, the second Baltic pipeline from Russian to Germany and then onwards to other European Union nations carrying 55 Bcm of pipeline gas per annum. The latest Austrian gas delivery details emerged at a meeting in St Petersburg between Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom, and OMV Chief Executive Rainer Seele.

“Special attention was paid to the implementation of the Nord Stream II project,” said a Gazprom statement on the talks. “Furthermore, potential cooperation in the LNG segment under the Memorandum of Understanding first signed in June 2019, was also discussed at the meeting,” it added. OMV along with France’s Engie, Royal Dutch Shell and Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall signed an agreement with Gazprom to provide financing for 50 percent of the total 9.5 billion euros ($10.5Bln) cost of Nord Steam II.

Austrian oil and gas company OMV has entered the LNG market by securing a preliminary multi-year sales agreement with the trading subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, owner of the Sabine Pass export plant in Louisiana and of a second project being developed at the port of Corpus Christi in Texas.

KBR, the US engineering and construction company, is continuing with its success in winning more oil and gas and LNG contracts by being nominated for work on a key sour gas project in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.