Background: The Wasit project has two offshore gas fields: the Hasbah and Arabiyah offshore non-associated sour-gas fields and aims to produce and process up to 2.5 billion standard cubic feet per day.The Al Wasit Gas Program is estimated to increase Saudi Arabia’s gas production capacity by 21%. Production from the Wasit fields and the Karan gas field will together increase Saudi Aramco’s gas output by approximately 40%.

Scope of Work: For Arabiyah, Aramco asked contractors to submit bids for the construction of gas facilities at the 900,000 barrels per day Moneefa oilfield, gas platforms and pipelines. The offshore development activities for the project will involve the installation of 15 platforms overall, comprising 12 wellhead platforms, two tie-in platforms and one injection platform. The drilling activities for the two offshore fields commenced in 2011. Keppel FELS supplied a new Super B Class jackup drilling rig named SAR 202 to carry out the drilling activities. Drilling activities include the boring of the largest diameter holes and laying of the longest casing strings. The project will implement state-of-the-art gas development technologies with large bore well designs and automated control systems.

Cost: The investment for the entire Wasit gas project is $4.7bn.The total value of the gas field development contract is $2.2bn. 

Capacity: The project will be capable of producing 1.75 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of sales gas during normal operation and up to 3.05 billion scfd during the peak summer season.

Contractor: The engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC) contract for the two offshore gas fields has been awarded to Saipem. Most of the offshore activities are being performed using Saipem’s Castoro II and Castoro Otto vessels. The front-end engineering (FEED) and project management services for the entire project are being overseen by SNC-Lavalin. The contract, which spans five years, was awarded in September 2009.