BAGHDAD: The number of major contract awards across the global oil and gas industry has steadily declined during the last quarter of 2014, dropping to 117 contract awards, a 22 per cent decrease compared to 150 in Q3 2014, but on par with the 118 contracts awarded in Q4 2013, a report said.
In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2014, a total of 64 major contracts (EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction), Feed (Front End Engineering Design) and Subsea/SURF (Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers & Flowlines) were awarded across 53 upstream developments, rising 42 per cent from 45 awards in Q3 2014 and compared to 40 awards in Q4 2013, according to the EIC Monitor quarterly report from the Energy Industries Council (EIC), a leading trade association.
A total of 33 EPC contracts, 6 Feed contracts and 25 Subsea/SURF contracts were awarded.The Mena region and Asia Pacific (including Australia) dominated activity this quarter, along with the US, with both regions accounting for 63 per cent of midstream EPC contracting activity in Q4 2014.
In the Mena region, five midstream EPC contracts were awarded across developments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Egypt and Tunisia. Of note, Hoegh LNG has been contracted to charter a FSRU (Floating, Storage and Regasification Unit) for Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company’s Egypt Floating LNG Terminal, which will be utilised as an LNG import terminal in the port of Ain Sokhna on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
Another significant award is Petrojet’s contract to restore 800 km worth of infrastructure at Basra Gas Company’s Basra Gas Gathering Project in Iraq, which is part of Iraq’s Gas Master Plan.
In Australia, Keppel Offshore & Marine secured a contract to build a barge for Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG Plant, off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, while a consortium of Spiecapag and Lucas Group has been appointed to carry out EPC work on APA Group’s Eastern Goldfields Pipeline, also in Western Australia.
