Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan Offshore Engineering and the Qingdao arm of CNPC Offshore Engineering have signed an agreement covering jacket fabrication for QatarEnergy LNG's North Field West expansion.

The deal marks the first project activated under a broader cooperation framework agreed by the two Chinese fabricators in April. North Field West is the latest phase of QatarEnergy's multi-stage development of the North Field, the giant offshore gas field Qatar shares with Iran, which underpins the country's liquefied natural gas expansion programme. QatarEnergy has said the North Field expansion phases, including North Field West, are intended to lift its LNG capacity to 142 million tonnes per annum by 2030, up from a current nameplate of about 77 mtpa, making the programme one of the largest gas build-outs underway worldwide and a major source of fabrication work for Asian yards.

The companies said the work would draw on their experience in full-process deepwater jacket construction. Jackets are the steel lattice structures that support offshore platforms, and fabrication for large LNG development projects typically involves thousands of tonnes of steel per structure. The two yards have previously completed nine projects together, including jackets for the Qatar Ruya EPC11 development.

No contract value, jacket count, delivery timetable, fabrication milestones or precise contractual chain was disclosed. Further project awards and scope details for North Field West, along with execution milestones at the Qingdao yards, are the items to watch as the programme advances.