Qatar’s state-owned company QatarEnergy has awarded the contractor Italy Saipem and China Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd. a contract valued at more than $4 billion to develop the country’s North Field offshore natural gas area off its northeast coast. It is considered the world’s largest “non-associated” gas field, with natural gas existing in its own formation separate from oil reserves.
Saipem’s portion of the contract is valued at $3.1 billion, the company said.
The company’s contract, which it said has a five-year term, includes the engineering, procurement, manufacture and installation of two compression complexes, each with platforms for compression, platform, work quarters, toast to support the gas combustion system and related interconnection bridges. Each complex will have a total weight of about 68,000 tons.
Saipem said it will conduct offshore installation operations with its heavy construction vessel De He around 2029 and 2030.
The field, discovered in 1971, covers an area of more than 6,000 km² and is believed to hold recoverable gas reserves of more than 900 trillion standard cubic feet, according to QatarEnergy.
The new contract follows Saipem’s previous award of field development contracts “communicated to the market” in October 2022 and September 2024, respectively, according to the contractor, which are valued at around $8.5 billion and are being executed.
QatarEnergy said it plans to expand the North Field gas development to increase the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity from 77 million tonnes per year to 142 million tonnes per year by 2030, which includes expanding offshore and onshore infrastructure, new LNG trains and global partnerships to supply energy demand.
The northern field, shared between Qatar and Iran, has had 15 appraisal wells drilled over a 14-year period. The field expansion also includes a carbon capture and storage project expected to handle 2.1 million tonnes per year, QatarEnergy noted.
Milan-based Saipem said it specializes in the engineering and construction of large projects for the energy and infrastructure sectors, both offshore and onshore. The company has five fabrication yards, an offshore fleet of 17 owned construction vessels and 9 owned drilling rigs.
Saipem said it is “committed to supporting its customers on the path of the energy transition towards Net Zero, with technologies and processes oriented towards environmental sustainability”. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, the contractor works in more than 50 countries and employs around 30,000 people.
The company reported total global revenue of $15.7 billion last year, according to its February 2025 year-end results announcement.
