Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco) has completed construction of two artificial islands for the Sateh Al Razboot (Sarb) oilfield, the first to be developed without foreign shareholders, reported Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister newspaper of The National.
The company has also started carrying out civil work as well as construction of workers’ accommodation and facilities required to start drilling operations.
The two falcon-shaped artificial islands, part of the first phase of the project, will serve as bases for drilling and eliminate the need for offshore rigs - a technique being tested at the Upper Zakum field by ExxonMobil.
Oil will be transferred via a subsea pipeline to Zirku Island, currently under construction for processing, storage and export.
The project’s housing units in north Sarb have also been completed.
The development project has been implemented through eight work packages intended to produce about 100,000 barrels per day from the field, located 120 kilometres off the coast of Abu Dhabi, as part of parent Adnoc’s plans to boost Adma-Opco’s crude oil production by adding 300,000 bpd from three new fields including Umm Lulu and Nasr to total productionas the company seeks to ramp up output to 1 million bpd by the end of the decade.
Offshore oil is key to achieving Abu Dhabi’s target to boost production capacity to 3.5 million bpd by 2017. Current capacity stands at 2.7 million bpd, with Adma contributing 600,000 bpd, according to the company last year.
In April, Adma said it had awarded a US$1.89 billion contract to Hyundai Engineering & Construction and a separate $515.4 million package to Petrofac to develop the field.
Parent Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) holds a 100 per cent interest in the Sarb development, unlike at other fields in the emirate where it retains a 60 per cent majority and spreads the risk and capital investment among the emirate and its foreign partners.
Sarb offers a test case for independent development. At the same time fields such as Sarb require a longer timescale for a return on investment, making a $1 per barrel fee unattractive for most potential foreign partners.
Sarb originally fell under the Adma offshore concession, whose shareholders include BP, Total and Japan Oil Development, but with that contract expiring in 2018, international oil companies have little time to reap the returns of their investment.
Adma relinquished the field last year, although Adnoc has asked it to carry out the project.
Hyundai is to build processing and export facilities to serve Sarb, while Petrofac will lay 200km of subsea pipelines, 55km of subsea power and communication cables and drilling facilities on the islands.
Engineers hope to get Sarb online in 2017, just a year before the expiration of the emirate’s main offshore concession.
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