Winner Nears in CNOOC’s Wenchang 10-3 race
Monday 19 September 2016
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is understood to be closing in on a decision to award a key contract to provide subsea equipment for the Wenchang 10-3 gas field in the western part of the South China Sea.
Sources said that CNOOC — headed by chairman Yang Hua — appears to have already taken a decision in favour of the FMC Technologies bid and is in the final stages of gathering feedback on the impending decision.
They said an official award could come as soon as next week, with CNOOC Zhanjiang, which supervises and operates the company’s offshore assets in the western part of the South China Sea, preparing for final talks with FMC on a commercial contract.
Sources said the second lowest bidder for the contract, Chinese domestic subsea equipment manufacturer MSP/Drilex, earlier lodged a complaint with CNOOC, questioning bidding process procedures and seeking to supply at least one subsea tree for Wenchang.
One source said it did not appear that request would catered to although another did say a further meeting was planned early next week.
MSP/Drilex is a Shanghai-based oil and gas contractor specialising in surface facilities, storage tank construction and subsea equipment. The company’s products include trees, blowout preventers, control systems and connecting equipment.
Last year, the company formed a joint venture with CNOOC, through its CNOOC Energy Technology & Service (CNOOC Enertech) subsidiary, to develop and build equipment for deep-water oil and gas exploration and development.
The pending award for Wenchang 10-3 involves the provision of four subsea trees with two options and subsea production control systems. Thee trees will be tied back to a central equipment platform northwest of Wenchang 10-3 via a 22-kilometre flexible subsea pipeline.
Norway’s Aker Solutions, GE of the US and US-European combine One Subsea also took part in the tender.
First gas from Wenchang 10-3, which lies in water depths of 115 metres, 170 kilometres east of Wenchang city in Hainan province, was originally scheduled for 2016 but output is not now expected before 2018 at the earliest.
Peak gas production of about 660 million cubic metres per year is expected to be reached two years after production starts.