McDermott awarded major offshore contract on Qatari LNG expansion project

QatarEnergy, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, has awarded a major engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract to Houston-headquartered McDermott International for the offshore scope of its North Field Expansion project in the Persian Gulf.

The Qatari state-owned firm has selected McDermott’s unit in the Middle East for 13 normally unmanned wellhead platforms topsides – eight for North Field East (NFE) and five for North Field South (NFS) – in addition to various connecting pipelines and the shore approaches for the NFE pipelines, beach valve stations and buildings. 

The jackets and the pipelines for the NFS project will be subject to a separate tender which is expected to be awarded in the first half of 2022, QatarEnergy said.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the minister of state for energy affairs, president and CEO of QatarEnergy, stated: “The award of this major EPCI contract is a momentous milestone that demonstrates QatarEnergy’s commitment to delivering our LNG expansion projects on time and to ensure the significant additional global LNG demand is catered for in a timely manner.”

The expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77m tons per year to 126m tons per year, with the first LNG expected in 2025. Qatargas will execute the project on behalf of QatarEnergy.​