en.Wedoany.com Reported - Adnoc Gas, the gas processing subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has issued the main engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) tender for the core gas processing plant of the Bab onshore oil and gas field gas cap development project. This gas cap development is one of the largest of its kind globally, and the new processing plant will receive additional raw gas production from the Bab gas cap, serving as a key project for Adnoc to achieve its 2030 upstream production growth target.
To meet its 2030 production target, Adnoc is advancing natural gas extraction from four underdeveloped gas cap reservoirs at the Bab onshore oil field, involving the Thammama A, Thammama B, Thammama F, and Thammama H reservoirs. The combined daily production from the Thammama A, B, and H reservoirs is expected to reach 1.45 billion cubic feet, while the Thammama F gas cap is expected to produce 396 million cubic feet per day, bringing total additional raw gas to approximately 1.85 billion cubic feet per day. Since existing production lines at the Habshan gas processing complex cannot accommodate the new volumes, new processing facilities are required.
According to the plan, Adnoc Gas will build a new gas processing plant in the Bab area, approximately 170 kilometers from downtown Abu Dhabi, along with supporting gas transmission pipelines and related units. All work falls under the Bab gas cap development project framework. The EPC work is divided into four separate packages: Package 1 covers the core Bab gas cap main processing plant, Package 2 covers early civil works, Package 3 covers pipeline works, and Package 4 covers non-process area works. The main processing plant package, for which the tender has been launched, was officially issued on June 25, with contractor technical bid submissions due by July 17. The other three packages are currently in the main contract tendering stage.
Additionally, Adnoc's onshore company is preparing to issue another main tender for the well tie-in works for production and injection wells at the Bab gas cap reservoirs, which is also part of the integrated Bab gas cap development plan.
On February 10 this year, Adnoc Gas issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the main processing plant EPC tender, with an initial submission deadline of February 17, later extended to February 20. After prequalification, four contractor consortia entered the final bidding round: a consortium of India's Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon and South Korea's Samsung Engineering & Construction; a consortium of Italy's Saipem and UAE's NMDC Energy; a consortium of France's Technip Energies, Japan's JGC Corporation, and Sinopec; and a consortium of Italy's Tecnimont and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC).
Prior to the tender launch, the project underwent multiple rounds of preliminary preparation. Adnoc Gas held initial engagements with contractors from September to October 2025; in December of the same year, the company awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Bab gas cap development project to Australian engineering consultancy Worley. The FEED contract, totaling over 1.2 million man-hours, is the largest engineering design order awarded since Adnoc Gas was established, and upon completion, the project will increase Adnoc Gas's overall gas processing capacity by approximately 20%.
Capacity expansion is also driving sustained growth in Adnoc Gas's capital expenditure. Currently, Adnoc Gas's capital expenditure commitment for 2023-2029 stands at $20 billion; with the final investment decisions (FID) for the Ruwais Gas Development (RGD) project phases 2 and 3 expected within this year, this expenditure is projected to increase to approximately $28 billion. If the Bab gas cap development project reaches FID later this year, the company's total capital expenditure could exceed $30 billion.
As another core capacity project, RGD phase 1 is currently under construction. In June 2025, Adnoc Gas awarded engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCm) contracts worth a total of $5 billion for phase 1 in three batches, setting a record for the company's largest single capital investment. Phases 2 and 3 will involve building new natural gas liquid fractionation production lines at the Ruwais gas processing facility and the 7th gas processing train at the Habshan complex. Market sources reported in March that Adnoc Gas had selected main EPC contractors for these two projects, each valued at approximately $4 billion, though no official award announcement has been made.
In terms of project development mechanisms, the Abu Dhabi Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs recently formally granted the development and production concession agreement for the Bab gas cap reserves. Adnoc holds a 60% majority participating interest in the concession, with the remaining equity held by several international energy companies: France's TotalEnergies and the UK's BP each hold 10%, China National Petroleum Corporation International holds 8%, Japan Oil Development Company's onshore division holds 5%, China Zhenhua Oil holds 4%, and South Korea's GS E&P holds 3%. The project is operated by Adnoc Onshore.
According to official descriptions, a gas cap refers to a layer of free natural gas located above an oil reservoir. The gas cap being developed sits atop the giant Bab onshore oil field in Abu Dhabi. Upon full production, the project's natural gas capacity will be approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, equivalent to 15% of Adnoc Gas's current total operated gas processing capacity. This project will help the UAE achieve natural gas self-sufficiency, support the continued development of the UAE's domestic petrochemical industry, and provide capacity support for Adnoc to expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capabilities.
