Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

Al-Shaheen Field Expansion Project, Qatar

The project I am referring to is the Ru’ya Development Project, a major expansion of Qatar’s offshore Al-Shaheen oilfield, operated by North Oil Company, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies.

Central Processing Platform

One of the largest packages covers a new Central Processing Platform complex. The approximately US$1.9 billion EPCIC contract was awarded to a consortium of McDermott Middle East and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

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The package reportedly includes:

• A new central processing platform topside and jacket
• Oil, gas and produced-water processing systems
• Utility and power-generation facilities
• Accommodation and control facilities
• Bridges connecting the central platform to associated offshore structures
• Flare and supporting facilities
• Offshore transportation, installation, hook-up and commissioning

The central processing platform will receive production from the new wellhead platforms, separate and treat the oil, gas and produced water, and transfer the processed crude into the field’s existing export and storage system. 

McDermott’s scope

McDermott received major Ru’ya packages covering offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning. Its wider scope includes several new wellhead platforms, jackets, pipelines, subsea cables and associated modifications to existing facilities.

Some of the fabrication and engineering work is being distributed among McDermott-associated and subcontracted Asian yards because the Ru’ya programme involves very large quantities of structural steel and multiple offshore structures.

Jackets fabricated in China

Chinese yards have secured important fabrication work for the project.

Chiwan Sembawang Engineering, commonly known as CSE, received a subcontract from McDermott to fabricate an offshore platform jacket for the Ru’ya development. The work began at its fabrication facilities in China. 

Additional jackets and foundation piles were fabricated at a yard in Qingdao, China, and delivered to McDermott. These structures form the steel substructures fixed to the seabed upon which the wellhead or processing-platform topsides are installed. 

The jackets typically require:

• Large-diameter tubular steel members
• Heavy node fabrication
• Full-penetration welding
• Dimensional-control surveying
• Non-destructive testing
• Corrosion protection and anodes
• Pile sleeves, conductors and boat landings
• Load-out using skid beams or self-propelled modular transporters

Saipem’s role

 was also awarded major work connected with the Al-Shaheen expansion, although its package is separate from the McDermott–Hyundai central processing platform contract.

Saipem’s responsibilities are understood to cover offshore facilities such as wellhead platforms, jackets, subsea pipelines, cables, installation and modifications to existing offshore infrastructure. The exact division of fabrication among Saipem’s own yards and Asian subcontractors varies by package.

Saipem has substantial fabrication capacity at its Karimun yard in Indonesia, while McDermott uses its Batam and Qatar fabrication facilities and subcontracts selected structures to Chinese yards.

Overall Ru’ya development

The Ru’ya programme comprises several major EPC packages valued collectively at approximately US$6 billion, including:

• Nine new wellhead platforms and jackets
• A central processing platform complex
• A riser platform
• Hundreds of kilometres of subsea pipelines and cables
• Brownfield modifications to existing platforms
• Offshore installation, hook-up and commissioning

The expansion is intended to increase Al-Shaheen production by about 100,000 barrels per day, with additional output expected around 2027.

Lesson for Sri Lanka

This project demonstrates that offshore development work is internationally distributed. Qatar owns and operates the resource, international companies such as McDermott and Saipem undertake EPCIC responsibility, while large jackets and modules are fabricated in China, South Korea, Indonesia and other competitive Asian yards.

Sri Lanka could participate in this supply chain by developing Trincomalee for:

• Jacket and module fabrication
• Secondary steel and boat landings
• Piles and tubular structures
• Pipe spools and subsea structures
• Offshore-platform refurbishment
• Rig lay-up and repair
• Skilled welding and fabrication training
• Engineering and project-management support

The principal requirement is a properly equipped offshore fabrication base, deep-water load-out facilities, skilled workers and a government-backed one-stop approval mechanism. Regards