McDermott Secures $500M–$750M Subsea Contract from Eni for Cyprus Cronos Gas Field

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 8, McDermott was awarded a subsea engineering contract by Eni Cyprus Limited for the Cronos gas field, covering project management, engineering, procurement, and installation support. McDermott classified the contract as "substantial," which, per the company's internal definition, corresponds to a contract value range of $500 million to $750 million. This marks McDermott's first subsea project contract from Eni, and the project will be executed by its Subsea and Floating Facilities team.

The Cronos gas field is located in Block 6 offshore Cyprus, approximately 185 kilometers southwest of Cyprus, and is being developed jointly by Eni and TotalEnergies, each holding a 50% stake. The field was discovered in 2022, and the Cronos-2 appraisal well in 2024 further confirmed the reservoir scale, with initial gas in place exceeding 3 trillion cubic feet. The development plan calls for four subsea production wells, targeting first gas by 2028.

Once the project comes onstream, Cronos is expected to reach a plateau production level of approximately 500 million standard cubic feet per day, equivalent to an annual LNG production scale of about 2.8 million tons. The field will not involve the construction of a new standalone onshore processing and liquefaction system in Cyprus; instead, produced gas will be routed through cross-border subsea infrastructure to tie into Egypt's existing system, first entering Eni-operated Zohr facilities for processing, then being delivered to the Damietta LNG plant for liquefaction and export.

For the execution of this contract, McDermott will mobilize teams from Houston, Perth, London, and Kuala Lumpur, and will utilize the company's offshore marine construction fleet. The company specifically noted that the ultra-deepwater vessel Amazon will support project execution, but has not yet disclosed the vessel's specific mobilization date, offshore installation window, pipeline length, or the number of subsea structures.

The Cronos development received final investment approval at the end of July and has since moved into the engineering execution phase. In addition to this McDermott subsea engineering package, the project is also advancing the subsea production system, floating control facilities, and associated cross-border gas transmission infrastructure. To date, Eni has not publicly disclosed the full contract values or final equipment configurations for the major engineering packages.

Cronos will become Eni's first gas development project in Cyprus to reach the production stage. Block 6 also hosts other gas discoveries, including Calypso and Zeus, and the development and export system of the Cronos Phase 1 project will serve as critical infrastructure for connecting future resources in the block.