Italian oilfield services provider Saipem has received a letter of award from Qatargas for the development of the North Field Production Sustainability Offshore Project, located offshore Qatar, worth approximately $1.7 billion.

The scope of work encompasses the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation of various offshore facilities for the extraction and transportation of natural gas, including platforms, supporting and connecting structures, subsea cables and anticorrosion internally cladded pipelines, Saipem said on Monday.

Furthermore, the project encompasses the decommissioning of a pipeline and other significant modifications to existing offshore facilities.

Pipe-laying and lifting operations will be executed by the DE HE vessel in water depths of approximately 65 meters, leveraging on Saipem’s welding technology for corrosion resistant cladded pipelines.

The project aims at increasing the early gas field production capacity to 110 million tonnes per annum.

This new contract is the latest of a string of projects awarded to Saipem since its return in the country in 2018 with the Barzan project, nearing completion.

Saipem is already executing the WHP12N Jacket project, awarded in July 2020, which is part of the North Field Production Sustainability Offshore Project development.

This new contract award is included in 31 December 2020 backlog.

In addition to this award and still in the frame of the overall North Field Production Sustainability Offshore Project development program, Saipem has received from Qatargas a Letter of Intent for the contractual package regarding offshore export pipelines and related onshore works of the North Field Production Sustainability Pipelines Project.

The award of this additional package is subject to the definition of contractual details and the client’s final approval.

Saipem has recently expanded its offices in the country and strengthened its fabrication capability by cooperating with a local fabrication yard.

Stefano Porcari, Saipem E&C Offshore Division COO, commented: “This acquisition by Qatargas consolidates our position in the gas sector, confirms our strategic role in the energy transition and represents a token of confidence in Saipem’s experience and proven ability to successfully execute and deliver challenging projects.

“Furthermore, it also confirms the relevance and effectiveness of the early engagement model adopted through our division XSIGHT, which recently concluded, ahead of time, the Front-End Engineering Design contract for the whole NFPS development programme”.

The North Field is one of the largest single non-associated natural gas fields in the world. It is operated by Qatargas and lies off the north-east shore of the Qatar peninsula.

In related news, Qatar Petroleum earlier in February made the final investment decision for developing the North Field East Project (NFE).

It is expected to start production in the fourth quarter of 2025 and its total production will reach about 1.4 million barrels oil equivalent per day.

The NFE project represents the first phase of LNG expansion in Qatar, while the second phase, referred to as the North Field South project (NFS), will further increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 110 mtpa to 126 mtpa.