This is where it all began. The Murban Bab Oil Field, around 84 kilometres north west of Abu Dhabi, was the location of the first oil produced in the UAE in 1960. The mighty field has been a prolific producer of crude ever since, but it’s time for a fresh upgrade.
In 2017, ADNOC awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) to China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC), affiliated to China National Petroleum (CNPC) to re-energize the field.
The contract will boost Bab’s output capacity to 450,000 barrels of oil per day by 2020, from 420,000 bpd currently. The Chinese companies will also usher in new cluster drilling techniques to cost and the environmental footprint of the operations, and deploy digital oil field technologies to improve efficiencies, and maximize revenues from each barrel produced.
The Bab upgrade will also increase water and gas handling capabilities and deliver an additional degassing and processing train, to be built alongside the existing seven trains used to prepare crude oil for exports.