Petrofac Secures Major EPC Contract with Petroleum Development Oman

Petrofac, the international oil and gas facilities service provider, has received a letter of award for the EPC contract with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to build the second phase of the Harweel Cluster Development in southern Oman. The project will be executed in conjunction with Galfar a leading Omani Engineering & Construction Company.

This contract, valued at just under 1 billion dollars, will be executed over three years through Petrofac’s Engineering & Construction division from its base in Sharjah, UAE.  Petrofac is tasked with the project management, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, training and support during commissioning of the project and this phase of the project includes a new oil and gas processing station within the Harweel cluster with a gas enrichment/sweetening plant, and associated facilities for a capacity of 10,000 m3 per day (m3/d) of oil production.  Additionally, there are facilities for 5 million m3/d gas injection into the Zalzala oilfield, additional gathering facilities, facilities for gas depletion at the Rabab field, and modifications to the existing Harweel processing station.

The first phase of the Harweel development was completed in the first quarter of 2004 and has already enabled the early production of some 2,000 m3/d of oil.  The overall development programme is set to significantly increase Oman’s oil production over the next ten years.

The contract award also provides PDO with an option for an additional 10 million m3/d gas injection into the Sakhiya oilfield, additional gathering facilities, expansion of the depletion facilities at Rabab, and expansion of the Harweel processing station to increase overall capacity to 20,000 oil m3/d.  If this option is exercised, the total contract value would increase.

Commenting on the award, Maroun Semaan, Chief Executive, Petrofac Engineering & Construction, said: “Following the award of the Kauther gas plant project earlier in 2005, this major contract will significantly expand our presence in Oman and relationship with PDO and takes our E&C backlog to record levels. It follows several months of basic engineering work and technical evaluation to come up with the optimum design solution. We are also pleased to have had this success alongside our long term Omani construction partner, Galfar Engineering & Construction.”

John Malcolm, PDO’s Managing Director, said: “The Harweel development is PDO’s first full-scale enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project. As such, it sets the trend for the company: EOR will give a new lease of life to our existing fields, both new and old. Together with our recently constructed gas plants, it represents the future growth areas of PDO. The award of both the Harweel and the Kauther contracts to Petrofac this year reflects our confidence in Petrofac’s ability to ensure we achieve our plan.”

Ayman Asfari, Group Chief Executive, Petrofac Limited, added: “We are delighted to have been awarded this major contract which builds upon Petrofac’s relationships with the region’s national oil companies and demonstrates our ability to leverage our strong regional presence.  This will be the largest lump-sum contract undertaken by our E&C business and further demonstrates our clients’ confidence in Petrofac’s ability to deliver large-scale EPC projects.”