The global oil & gas industry has witnessed a substantial boost from contracts activity in the Middle East – led by state-owned firms Saudi Aramco and ADNOC – resulting in a contract value of US$44.4bn in Q3 2019, according to GlobalData.

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The increase in contract value is primarily attributed to Saudi Aramco’s 34 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) related contracts (worth over US$18bn) for projects such as the Marjan and Berri field incremental development programme in Saudi Arabia, alongside ADNOC’s US$3.6bn contract for the supply of one million metric tons of casing and tubing to support exploration and production activity in the UAE. 

 

The reported contract value is comparable to the previous quarter, which recorded US$45.5bn in value – despite there being a slight decline in the number of contracts from 1,528 in Q2 2019 to 1,386 in Q3 2019.

 

The company’s latest report – ‘Q3 2019 Global Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review’ – states that the upstream sector reported 1,035 contracts in Q3 2019, followed by midstream and downstream/petrochemical sector with 255 and 109 contracts, respectively, during the quarter.

 

North America recorded the most contracts with 489, representing 35 per cent of the total in Q3 2019. This was followed closely by Europe with 471 contracts, accounting for 34 per cent of the total.

 

Adding in-country value

 

“Saudi Aramco’s commitment towards enhancing local presence is demonstrated in-line with its’ In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) initiative, which is designed to drive domestic value creation. The recent 34 EPC-related contracts, worth over US$18bn, also support this initiative as most of the contract work will be undertaken by local companies/subsidiaries,” advised Pritam Kad, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData. “On the similar note, ADNOC’s US$3.6bn casing and tubing supply contract, awarded during Q3, has the potential to achieve an in-country value of over 50 per cent, which is significant.”

 

Of the total contracts in Q3 2019, 61 per cent were operation and maintenance (O&M) related contracts, followed by multiple-scope contracts such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement, which accounted for 12 per cent.

 

Notable contracts awarded by Saudi Aramco during Q3 2019 include multiple EPC-related contracts for the Marjan and Berri field Increment development programme. Such key contracts included: McDermott International and COOEC consortium’s US$3.5bn contract for the EPC and installation (EPCI) of a gas-oil separation plant (GOSP); McDermott International’s US$1.7bn EPCI contract for offshore gas facilities and pipelines; Saipem Onshore’s E&C division’s two EPCI services contracts combined (worth over US$3.5bn) for the development of the land facilities of the Abu Ali Crude expansion, oil and gas separation plant, and Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP) facilities; Tecnicas Reunidas’ US$3.36bn EPCI contract for a gas-processing plant and recovery and fractionation facilities; and the L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) and EMAS AMC consortium’s mega contract (worth over US$1bn) for an EPCI of oil facilities, tie-in platforms, production deck modules (wellhead decks), subsea pipelines and subsea cables, as well as the replacement of existing control gears at offshore platforms.