French oilfield services firm Technip has been contracted to work on an offshore platform at Bahr Essalam field offshore Libya.

Technip says that the deal signed with the Italian oil firm Eni is a “major” one, meaning it ranges between 500 million euros and 1 billion euros.

The field is located 110 kilometers off the Libyan coast, and is operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas B.V. Libyan Branch, a consortium between National Oil Corporation and Eni North Africa.

Bahr Essalam will be tied back to the Sabratha platform, which is situated approximately 110km off the Libyan coast in a water depth of approximately 190m.

Under the contract Technip will perform the overall design, detailed engineering and deliver the project management, as well as procurement, installation, tie-ins, pre-commissioning and commissioning.

This will be associated with the provision of a gas gathering system, comprised of production pipelines, subsea isolation valve (SSIV), umbilicals(2), as well as extensive diving and installation campaigns. It will also include modifications to the Sabratha platform regarding the topsides. All offshore mobilisations will be undertaken from Malta.

Offshore installation is scheduled for the second half of 2017 through to the second half of 2018. Technip said it would deploy its Deep Energy pipelay vessel, Deep Arctic diving support vessel, and the G1200 S-Lay vessel.

Thierry Pilenko, Chairman and CEO, commented: “We very much look forward to working with Mellitah to safely and successfully deliver this large project, by leveraging our strong know-how and experience in high-quality product manufacturing and subsea installation.”

Bahr Essalam is part of the Western Libyan Gas Project developed to valorize the natural gas produced in Libya. The natural gas comes from the offshore Bahr Essalam field and the onshore Wafa field, which is close to the border with Algeria.

Eni is the operator with a 50% stake for the joint development of the fields. The other partner is National Oil Corporation (NOC), the Libyan state-owned oil company.

Eni’s share of recoverable reserves is 950 million boe (barrels of oil equivalent). When fully operational, production levels will, according to Eni, be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, 2 billion of which will be destined for local markets and 8 for export.