Overview of the North Field and QatarEnergy's Expansion

The North Field, shared by Qatar and Iran with the extended South Pars field in the Persian Gulf, is the world's largest non-associated natural gas field. QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of QatarEnergy, is expanding three development phases at North Field to increase Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity to 142 million tonnes per annum by the end of this decade. This expansion includes the multi-phase North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) offshore compression projects, aimed at maintaining and increasing gas production from the giant asset.

Bomesc Offshore Engineering's Contract

Chinese contractor Bomesc Offshore Engineering has secured a $220 million sub-contract from Italy's Saipem to build a living quarters module for the NFPS offshore compression complex project (COMP5). The contract, signed by Bomesc's wholly-owned subsidiary Tianjin Bomesc Offshore Engineering with Saipem Offshore Construction, covers the design, material procurement, and construction of the living quarters module. The contract amount includes a fixed price portion plus a portion based on currently estimated variable workload.

COMP5 Project Details

COMP5 is part of QatarEnergy LNG's strategy to sustain production from the North Field. A consortium of Saipem and China's Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) serves as the key engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contractor for COMP5, which was awarded by QatarEnergy in December. Saipem previously confirmed a $4 billion EPCI deal in partnership with COOEC for this project. The workscope, likely executed over five years, includes the EPCI of two compression complexes, each comprising a compression platform, a living quarter platform, a flare platform supporting the gas combustion system, and related interconnecting bridges.

Related NFPS Projects and Context

Saipem also secured a $4 billion offshore EPC contract for the COMP3A and COMP3B schemes of the NFPS programme. The COMP5 project has a similar workscope to COMP4, which was awarded to L&T last year and described as the "largest single order" in L&T's history. QatarEnergy LNG is expected to continue offering multiple giant offshore compression platforms in separate phases over several years. However, the company's Ras Laffan liquefaction facilities, with a nameplate capacity of 77 million tonnes per annum, are currently offline due to Iran's retaliatory strikes on Qatar and other Gulf nations. The attacks damaged two QatarEnergy LNG liquefaction trains (Train 4 and Train 6), with repairs potentially taking up to five years.