Engineering and construction company J Ray McDermott was awarded a contract by Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 for the installation of new offshore pipelines in Qatar's North Field.

Under the terms of the deal the firm will oversee construction engineering, transportation and installation of two 38-inch diametre pipelines, totaling 130km in length as well as two 22-inch diametre interconnecting pipelines of 500 metres each connecting three wellhead platforms, WHP7, WHP8 and WHP9, with the onshore facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City.

"Winning this project signifies our customer's confidence in our capability to handle major projects with successful results," said J Ray McDermott senior vice president and general manager for the Middle East and India Hafez Aghili.

"Construction work is underway on the three associated wellhead topsides that were awarded to us last year.

As such, we'll be able to offer greater synergy in operation for the pipeline project as based on our project team's experience to execute the topsides contract," they said.

The project will be executed by the firm's project team and marine equipment based in Jebel Ali in the UAE.

The scope of work also involves laying a total of 138km of combined power and fibre-optic cables interconnecting the wellhead platforms with the onshore facilities, as well as two 500 metres long 22-inch diametre intra-field pipelines.