Adnoc awards $227m contract for enhanced recovery at Bab oilfield

The deal will help to boost recoverable reserves by up to 70% and will unlock additional barrels of Murban crude

Adnoc Onshore awarded the construction contract for the project to Robt Stone Middle East. Photo: Adnoc

Adnoc awarded a contract worth $227 million for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a technology that will help it to recover more reserves from its largest onshore oilfield called Bab.

The company's subsidiary, Adnoc Onshore, awarded the construction contract for the project to Robt Stone Middle East, Adnoc said on Monday.

The Bab field, located 160 kilometres south-west of Abu Dhabi, has the capacity to produce more than 450,000 barrels per day of the emirate’s flagship Murban crude grade.

EOR technology, designed by Adnoc, will use advanced polymers and carbon dioxide captured from its carbon capture utilisation and storage plant, Al Reyadah, to boost recoverable reserves up to 70 per cent while unlocking additional barrels of Murban crude, Adnoc said.

In November 2019, Adnoc awarded a Dh1.8 billion ($490m) engineering, procurement and construction contract to Archirodon Construction Overseas to upgrade the Bab oilfield.

The 39-month deal included the construction of infrastructure required to sustain the oilfield's long-term crude production capacity of 485,000 bpd.

The latest project is part of Adnoc's efforts to boost oil production capacity to 5 million bpd by 2030.

The company plans to increase its national reserves of 4 billion stock-tank barrels of oil and 16 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas, and spend $127bn in capital expenditure to bolster its upstream production capacity and downstream portfolio.

The latest construction contract will result in more than 60 per cent of the value flowing back into the UAE's economy under Adnoc's In-Country Value programme.

The award also increases Adnoc’s ability to “safely and commercially store greater amounts” of carbon dioxide, supporting its sustainability agenda, the company said.

Adnoc Onshore in December signed a five-year contract worth $3.8bn with Adnoc Drilling for the continued provision of drilling, workovers and other well services that will drive work crew efficiency, as well as improve rig move times and maintenance scheduling.

Last month, Adnoc also awarded framework agreements valued at Dh7.1bn to support drilling growth in the country.

The pacts for wireline logging and perforation services are the largest of their kind in the oil and gas industry and were awarded to Adnoc Drilling, Schlumberger Middle East, Haliburton Worldwide Limited Abu Dhabi and Weatherford Bin Hamoodah Company after a “competitive” tender process.