Qatar Petroleum hires eight rigs for work on North Field LNG project

LNG giant Qatar Petroleum (QP) has awarded contracts for eight offshore drilling rigs for work on its North Field Expansion project.

Qatar Petroleum said that eight offshore jack-up drilling rigs were planned to be mobilized and ready for drilling activities on the North Field Expansion Project in January 2020.

The company added that contracts for six of the eight rigs were awarded to Gulf Drilling, while the contracts for the remaining two rigs were awarded to Northern Offshore Drilling.

Contract terms range from two to four years, with exercisable options to extend the drilling program durations if required. The scope includes the drilling and completion of 80 new wells from eight wellhead platform locations.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the president and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, said, “This award package is the latest in a series of steps in Qatar Petroleum’s plan to execute the North Field Expansion project. We are pleased to have our National Drilling company GDI take part in this important project.”

The North Field Expansion project is part of Qatar Petroleum’s plans to expand Qatar’s LNG production from 77 million tonnes per annum (mta) to 110 mta by 2024.

The contract for the rigs was preceded by tender for engineering procurement and construction (EPC) of four LNG mega-trains for the project.

The company previously awarded deals for the fabrication and installation of eight offshore jackets for the North Field Expansion project to McDermott and a contract award for early site works for the onshore part of the project to a JV between CCC and Teyseer.