Saudi Aramco is expected to finalize soon the selection of contractors to build part of the onshore infrastructure in the expansion of Saudi Arabian field Safaniya, the world's biggest offshore oilfield.
The Saudi state oil giant is expected to complete the selection process of the preferred bidders for two large onshore engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts at Safaniya, worth a total of up to $5 billion, ChemAnalyst reports, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Indian engineering group Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has emerged as a front-runner to win the initial Safaniya contract for the construction of a gas oil separation plant (GOSP) facility, according to the sources.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction of South Korea, for its part, is reportedly the favorite to win the second EPC contract package, which involves offsite and utilities, other sources told ChemAnalyst.
Safaniya, the world's largest offshore oilfield, currently produces around 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.
As part of its strategy to boost Saudi Arabia's maximum sustainable capacity (MSC) to 13 million bpd in 2027, Aramco has planned a huge expansion at Safaniya.
In a presentation last year, Aramco said that it expects Safaniya's production capacity to increase by 700,000 bpd from 2027, with around 350,000 bpd rise in capacity planned for delivery in 2027, and the remainder after 2027.
Saudi Aramco expects to have boosted its oil production capacity to 13 million bpd by 2027 from 12 million bpd now, as the Saudi giant continues to bet on rising global oil demand.
Saudi Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser has warned time and again that oil and gas will be needed for decades and that the industry needs to invest in the upstream - despite activist calls for a halt in new developments - to ensure that the world avoids an energy shortage and an economic crisis.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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