While the number of major contract awards made globally since the last quarter have contracted by 17 per cent, a rise of 20 per cent in the number of upstream awards is a source of cautious optimism for the industry, a report said.

The number of major contract awards across the global oil and gas industry continued to decline during the last quarter ending June (Q2), dropping to 100, a 17 per cent decrease compared to 120 in Q1 2015, and a 39 per cent decrease from 165 contract awards in Q2 2014, according to the EIC Monitor quarterly report from the Energy Industries Council (EIC).

In Q2 2015, a total of 49 major contracts (Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC), Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and Subsea/Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers & Flowlines (SURF)) were awarded across 37 upstream developments, rising 20 per cent from 41 awards in Q1 2015, but decreasing 71 per cent from 69 contract awards in Q2 2014. A total of 28 EPC contracts, 9 FEED contracts and 12 Subsea/SURF contracts were awarded.

There has been a significant level of activity in Oman where four EPC contracts were awarded, three for work on BP’S Khazzan & Makarem Gas Fields and one for state-run PDO’s Yibal Khuff Sudair Integrated Enhanced Oil Recovery Project.

As part of its Khazzan & Makarem tight gas development, BP appointed Galfar Engineering & Contracting to build a gas gathering system; Oman Construction Company to build a 60km 36-inch gas export pipeline; and Gulf Petrochemical Services & Trading to build a 68km 12-inch condensate export pipeline in the last quarter.

Nearby in Yibal, PDO awarded Petrofac a four and a half year EPCm (Engineering Procurement Construction Management) contract for work at its Yibal Khuff Sudair Integrated Enhanced Oil Recovery Project.

The majority of PMC (Project Management Contract) activity in the last quarter has been in the Middle East and Caspian region, where four out of the five contracts have been awarded. In Oman, Orpic awarded MAN Diesel & Turbo a contract to overhaul and revamp the residue fluid catalytic cracking unit on its Sohar Refinery Improvement Project, while in Saudi Arabia, Jacobs Engineering will provide PMC services for all phases of InoChem’s soda ash (sodium carbonate) and calcium chloride plant in Yanbu Industrial City.

There has been further refinery improvement activity in Iraq, where South Refineries Company appointed a joint venture between Technip and Unico a contract to project manage the EPC work, commissioning, start-up and warranty management phase for its Basra Oil Refinery rehabilitation and expansion in the south of the country.

Data is sourced from the EICDataStream online project database, which tracks nearly 10,000 projects proposed or under development in the global energy industry. – TradeArabia News Service