India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has confirmed the award of multiple offshore contracts from a leading Middle East client, as the Indian engineering giant continues to expand its portfolio in the Gulf region.

While L&T did not name the Middle East player, Upstream understands the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) deals have been awarded by Saudi Aramco for its latest batch of long term agreement (LTA) contract orders.

The Indian player’s announcement on Wednesday also confirms a recent Upstream report that a grouping of L&T-Subsea7 has landed contracts from Aramco for the so-called contract release and purchase orders (CRPOs) numbered 117, 118 and 119, all involving the further expansion of its giant Marjan oilfield.

L&T dubbed the latest batch of orders as “mega”, which it describes as having a value upwards of 70,000 million Indian rupees ($853 million).

“The scope of work comprises EPCI for various new offshore facilities and integration with existing installations,” the Indian contractor noted.

Multiple facilities

Up to 10 production deck modules, a tie-in platform and multiple segments of subsea pipelines and cables are said to be included in the three workscopes, industry sources told Upstream.

The L&T-Subsea7 consortium last month awarded three separate CRPO contracts — 98, 120 and 121 — by Aramco and, along with the new batch of orders, the pairing has won at least six such coveted Aramco EPCI deals in recent months.

Subramanian Sarma, senior executive vice president of L&T Energy Hydrocarbon, said the company has “consistently demonstrated timely project delivery deploying end-to-end capabilities, including design, fabrication and installation of large process platforms, living quarters, subsea systems, piping and other T&I (transportation & installation) works”.

Offshore investments

The Saudi state giant is pumping in billions of dollars to maintain the production profile of some of the largest offshore oilfields in the country, while also spending aggressively on big-ticket greenfield developments to swiftly scale up its oil production capacity.

Aramco has highlighted its intent to scale up this capacity to 13 million barrels per day by 2027, from the current 12 million bpd.

11 EPCI deals

Upstream recently reported that up to 11 EPCI contracts from Aramco were close to finalisation and expected to be awarded within weeks, with the projects said to be collectively worth upwards of $3 billion.

Six awards have been placed, with the remaining five EPCI contracts poised to be awarded within days. Some of the potential contenders are likely to include Italy’s Saipem, US-based McDermott International, Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company and China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation, sources said.

The remaining contracts likely to be finalised soon include CRPOs 97, 99, 100, 101 and 122, Upstream understands.

Aramco has also launched multiple tenders for the additional offshore infrastructure required at its Manifa and Safaniyah fields, as it continues to invest heavily in strategic oil projects.

Along with the new CRPOs, Aramco is tendering for 10 separate LTA projects involving Safaniyah, touted to be worth upwards of $10 billion combined, project watchers said.