Dolphin awards $200m line pipe contract to German firm

 

Dolphin Energy yesterday said it has awarded a contract valued at more than $200 million (Dh734m) for the supply of line pipe for its Taweelah to Fujairah gas pipeline across the UAE to Salzgitter Mannesmann International.

Salzgitter will manufacture the line pipe at the Europipe Steel Mill in Germany and supply 120,000 tonnes of X70 48-inch coated pipe, the company said in a statement. First deliveries are expected in the summer of 2008, with delivery completion in spring 2009.

The pipeline will link Dolphin Energy’s gas receiving facilities at Taweelah on the coast of Abu Dhabi with the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority’s (Adwea) power and water desalination plant at Qidfa in Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast. It will be laid over an environmentally approved cross-country route through more than 240km of desert and mountainside.

Bids for the design and construction of the gas pipeline are due by January 31, 2008. Nine contracting companies were invited to bid in November.

The contractor will be appointed before summer, with site work due to begin shortly thereafter, the statement said.

Dolphin Energy’s General Manager for the UAE Ibrahim Ahmed Al Ansari said: “There is a strong global demand for quality steel pipe. Dolphin had to compete with other international projects to secure the line pipe for the project.

“We undertook a fast-track procurement process, and we have been able to achieve a very competitive price and delivery schedule in difficult market conditions. We are committed to supporting Adwea’s gas requirements at Qidfa in Fujairah,” he said. The project involves the production and processing of gas from Qatar’s North Field, and transportation of dry gas by sub-sea export pipeline from Qatar to the UAE, that began in July this year.

Long-term customers for Dolphin gas from Qatar are Adwea, Union Water and Electricity Authority, Dubai Supply Authority and from 2008 Oman Oil Company.

Each has signed a gas supply agreement with Dolphin Energy for 25 years.

Dolphin Energy is owned 51 per cent by Mubadala Development Company and 24.5 per cent each by Total of France and Occidental Petroleum of the US.