ABL’s engineering arm gets job on next chapter of Shell’s deepwater gas field

July 3, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Longitude Engineering, part of Oslo-listed energy, marine, and engineering consultancy ABL Group, has been hired to handle detailed engineering and project management services for a Shell-operated gas project in the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) concession off the coast of Egypt.

Illustration; Source: Longitude Engineering

After delivering design and engineering services for Phase-X, Longitude has now won a contract to provide detailed engineering and project management services to Petroleum Marine Services (PMS), which is the main engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC) contractor for the Phase XI deepwater project at Egypt’s West Delta Deep Marine concession, part of the Burullus gas field in the Mediterranean Sea.

All wells producing in Phase 10 of Egypt’s West Delta Deep Marine concession (Photos)

Exploration & Production

The scope of work for this development, which involves the tie-in of three subsea twin deepwater natural gas wells, includes engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, and commissioning support for five subsea M-shape rigid jumpers, equipped with deepwater specialized connectors, multiphase gas meters, and sand detection systems.

The assignment encompasses compact twin-well configurations, with each subsea jumper span limited to approximately 25 meters in length, to be installed in a brownfield environment adjacent to an existing live natural gas deepwater system, part of one of the largest deepwater natural gas networks globally.

In addition, the project covers tie-in structure, tie-in spool base (TSB), designed to accommodate multiple jumpers within a single subsea module, said to offer enhanced production flexibility and enable well allocation interchangeability. The job also encapsulates subsea control system components to support well operation and chemical injection.

Longitude has explained that its engineering scope comprises detailed design of deepwater rigid jumpers, development of fabrication drawings, onshore and offshore handling procedures, offshore installation engineering, process and stress modeling, and key HSE studies and engineering workshops.

Daniel McGowan, Offshore Project Director at Longitude Engineering, commented: “We are delighted to secure this contract following the success of our previous work on Phase X. The West Delta Deep Marine development is of major significance to Egypt’s oil and gas sector, and we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of service to PMS and, ultimately, to the operator.”

The WDDM concession area, which is operated by Shell through its joint venture, Burullus Gas Company, includes 17 gas fields at water depths ranging from 300 to 1,200 meters located around 90 kilometers offshore Egypt, in the northwestern Nile Delta region of the Mediterranean Sea.