QFAB nears completion of construction of wellhead jackets for NFS; clocks 4.3mn LTI-free workhours

Qatar Fabrication Company (QFAB) is nearing the completion of construction of five wellhead jackets for the North Field South (NFS) project for which it has put in more than 4.3mn accident-free work hours.
"This important milestone is the culmination of more than 4.3mn LTI-free (lost time incident-free) work hours of fabrication and constructing the process module," said the latest issue of Nakilat's magazine 'Voyages'.
The total weight of the jackets is approximately 18,000 tonnes and they were loaded out from Qatar Fabrication Company's (QFAB) facility in the QatarEnergy-owned and Nakilat-operated Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
QFAB, a joint-venture between Nakilat and McDermott International, is nearing the completion of the construction and loadout of five wellhead jackets, for its client McDermott on the NFS project, which, together with the North Field East, aims to increase Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity to 126mn tonnes per annum by 2027.
“The sail away of the jackets is of key importance for the NFS project as it marks the conclusion of onshore construction, and with this the remaining installation and hook-up work on NFS will take place offshore where the jackets will be integrated with the wellhead topsides at the NFS site,” said John Macpherson, QFAB’s managing director.
Highlighting it as an incredible milestone on the largest scope of offshore construction of its kind ever built in Qatar; he said "we are immensely proud that our work at QFAB contributes to the Qatar National Vision 2030 and is in line with the Tawteen and QatarEnergy’s In-Country Value (ICV) initiative."
ICV is economic value added from local operations and spend retained in the country. It is measured using a formula that captures how much out of the revenue is contributed back into the economy.
The wellhead jackets will be a crucial part of the NFS project development which will add new offshore wellhead topsides, pipelines, and onshore facilities to boost LNG production for export, the magazine said.
The new development will add 50 wells on five wellhead platforms (WHP’s) located about 20-30 km from Ras Laffan with a water depth variation of 18 to 24 meters in the North Field.
The five WHPs shall feed two LNG mega trains; one pair of WHPs shall support one LNG mega train. Each pair of WHPs is connected through an intrafield pipeline tying into a trunk line.
In May this year, QatarEnergy had awarded $10bn engineering, procurement and construction contract for the NFS project to TotalEnergies, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, which together would hold 25% stake, with the remaining majority 75% being held by Qatar's hydrocarbon bellwether.