McDermott gets new job on Shell’s gas project

U.S. offshore engineering and construction player McDermott has been awarded a limited notice to proceed in regards to an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract from Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited, a subsidiary of the UK-headquartered energy giant Shell, for a gas development project offshore Trinidad and Tobago.

According to McDermott, this limited notice to proceed with an EPCI contract from Shell is for the Manatee gas field development project, which is located off the east coast of Trinidad and Tobago. This is a conventional gas development. Once commissioned, gas will be supplied to both domestic and export markets from Trinidad and Tobago.

The U.S. player’s project scope covers the design, procurement, fabrication, transportation, installation, and commissioning of a wellhead platform, along with offshore and onshore gas pipelines. However, the work is subject to Shell taking a final investment decision.

Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott’s Senior Vice President, Subsea and Floating Facilities, commented: “This award follows our successful delivery of the front-end engineering design for the Manatee gas field. It is testament to McDermott’s integrated EPCI capabilities built over the last 100 years around the world including many successful projects in Trinidad and Tobago. We will again deliver for Shell, building on a partnership marked by trust, collaboration, and shared success, to execute this important project.”

Shell started the process of seeking environmental clearance for the Manatee project in September 2023, through the submission of an application for a certificate of environmental clearance to Trinidad & Tobago’s Environmental Management Authority (EMA). The oil major anticipates the achievement of the first gas from the project by 1Q 2028.

Based on the development plan, the recovered hydrocarbons from Manatee would be delivered by drilling eight new development wells from a new, normally unmanned offshore platform from which gas and condensate would be delivered to shore via a new gas pipeline. Afterward, the hydrocarbons would be processed at National Gas Company’s existing Beachfield Facility and delivered for sale to both export and domestic markets.

The Manatee field is part of the giant Loran-Manatee field that straddles Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime boundary with Venezuela. The combined field has an estimated resource of 10.04 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, of which 2.712 tcf is within the Manatee portion.

This has been a busy year for McDermott, as hammered home by multiple recent projects. A few days ago, the company secured a new engineering, procurement, removal, and disposal contract with Australia’s Santos, with a value ranging between $1 million and $50 million.

Prior to this, McDermott got its hands on a new transportation and installation contract with ONGC for a gas project offshore India. The U.S. player also won a limited letter of award for work on a gas development project offshore Vietnam, as part of a consortium with PTSC. The full project contract is slated to be executed in early 2024 with an award value of more than $1 billion.

In addition, the firm was hired by PRIO in September 2023 on a transportation and installation contract for a development in Brazil’s Campos basin.