Dubai, 19 March (Argus) – Shell has emerged as the frontrunner in the tender for development of Abu Dhabi's sour gas field Bab, winning the recommendation of state-owned oil company Adnoc
France's Total and Shell are the top two candidates for the development project while ExxonMobil is also in the running. Adnoc has now made a recommendation to the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), which has the ultimate say on all oil projects, after reviewing all the bids. Shell's bid was considered superior to that of Total.
The recommendation is not binding on the SPC, which is has overridden Adnoc's advice in the past.
Adnoc reactivated the long delayed plans for development of Bab along with another sour gas field called Hail in 2012. Hail is now on a different timeline and will be dealt with after the Bab tender is concluded. Abu Dhabi was contemplating awarding an appraisal contract for Bab but a looming gas shortage has pushed the emirate to award a development contract.
The ultra-sour field is believed to have resources enough to support raw gas production of up to 1bn ft³/d, an Abu Dhabi oil official said earlier. Previous preliminary estimates suggested Bab could produce up to 1.3bn ft³/d (13.4bn m3/yr). The actual sales gas output from the field is expected to be considerably lower as Bab gas contains up to 50pc sulphur and 15pc CO2.
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