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Wednesday, April 24, 2024 12:8 GMT
The North Field Development is a “massive” expansion project that will reinforce Qatar’s leadership in the global LNG market at a critical time both from an energy transition and an energy security perspective, says Neil Gunnion, McDermott country head and vice-president (Operations- Qatar).Early this year, QatarEnergy announced the awarding of a major Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (EPCI) contract for the offshore scope of its North Field Expansion Project to McDermott Middle East Inc.According to QatarEnergy, the scope for the awarded contract includes 13 normally unmanned wellhead platforms topsides (eight for NFE and five for NFS), in addition to various connecting pipelines and the shore approaches for the NFE pipelines, beach valve stations and buildings.“It is clearly a very significant award and is in fact the largest single award for McDermott in Middle East, and as such the largest award for us in the Qatar market. It further solidifies our long-term relationship with both QatarEnergy and Qatargas, for whom we have been doing offshore projects to support the development of the country’s critical energy infrastructure for several decades.“To be involved in this flagship project, a project which as McDermott we have been working on for several years via the FEED, makes us all very proud,” Gunnion said in an interview in Doha.Providing an overview of McDermott operations in Qatar, he said, “We continue with our clearly stated goal to become the largest standalone EPCI delivery organization here in Qatar, starting with the very earliest stages of project development (concept + Pre-FEED) via our IO (a joint venture between McDermott + Baker Hughes) team here in Doha through to full EPCI delivery, including fabrication of offshore infrastructure in Qatar at our fabrication facility in Ras Laffan Industrial Complex – QFAB.“QFAB is a joint venture between Nakilat and McDermott. We continue to grow all the necessary project team and support organizations to materialize this vision. This now includes the ability to fully execute large complex offshore projects entirely from Qatar – from start to finish. This has required growth in our Burj Doha execution office, for which we continue to recruit candidates locally mainly in the engineering field, but we are looking at supply chain and business candidates as we stabilize and focus on execution excellence for our customers.”Operationally, Gunnion noted, “We are ramping up QFAB to start various projects during 2022 and will be up and running in a few months, which is exciting to see. It truly is a first class facility and we look forward to fully harnessing her potential.”On the benefits of establishing QFAB, Gunnion said: “The benefits are many as we work to broaden and strengthen the local supply chain to support energy projects in Qatar. Over and above, the recruitment and training of several hundreds of skilled workers at various levels of expertise, we are also heavily engaged with the local supply chain to support our operations.“The ability to locally source support, materials, and services is crucial to the successful operation of the yard. As these in-country services grow, the ability to support more and more local development in the energy sector is a natural by-product. We are working hard to develop this long-term capability in Qatar.”Gunnion also highlighted McDermott’s focus on reducing emissions and managing the carbon footprint.He said: “As an EPC contractor in the energy industry, we believe we are uniquely positioned to influence the full value chain of emissions, starting with our own global fabrication, construction and marine operations and working with our suppliers and customers to reduce their operating emissions. McDermott has published sustainability goals to reduce emissions in our own operations (scope 1 & 2) and our suppliers (upstream, scope 3) and customers (downstream, scope 3).“In line with our commitment to reduce supply chain emissions across 10 key categories, we are actively engaged with key suppliers, such as steel suppliers, in identifying opportunities to lower the carbon intensity of their manufacturing process through sustainable solutions.In January, McDermott launched ‘ArborXD’, which gives the project the capability to estimate the lifecycle emissions of the operating facility and identify low emissions pathways through engineering design.Gunnion said: “The introduction of these monitoring and assessment tools at the earliest stages of projects allow us to be aware of our environmental impact and work to select solutions with long term gain. Of particular focus during the EPC lifecycle is the main GHG emitting phases of projects, which are fabrication and offshore installation.“As we operate our own fabrication yards, we are working to significantly reduce the GHG impact of our operations. McDermott has short term targets set around renewable energy, as we actively work towards increasing our renewable energy usage through installation of onsite solar and accessing offsite renewable energy through energy attribute certificates (EACs) or power purchasing agreements (PPAs) where available.”