Located 60 km north of Basra, in southern Iraq, Majnoon is one of the richest oil fields in the world with an estimated 38 billion barrels of oil in place.  In January 2010, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil awarded Shell, Petronas and Missan a 20-year contract to provide technical assistance and increase oil production to a peak of 1.8 million barrels per day.

Shell Iraq Petroleum Development (Shell) B.V, envisaged a two phase development for the field. Phase I consisted of reaching First Commercial Production, while Phase II focused on the development of the full field. As part of the First Commercial Production, a new 100,000 bpd Central Processing Facility comprising 2x50k bpd trains, new well pads, various new wells and storage facilities, were planned. Crude exports from the processing facilities are transported through a pipeline, tied-in to the existing crude export pipeline.

In July 2011, for the early phase of the project, aimed at First Commercial Production, ENKA was awarded a contract by Shell for the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation construction work, for the new Central Processing Facility.

Majnoon is located close to the Iranian border, and given the history of the area, the project site was characterized by high level of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). The client had performed mine clearance activities to ensure safe operations and ENKA performed construction activities in strict compliance with the UXO clearance and de-mining sequence of the project site. A robust safety and security approach was deployed and implemented by ENKA throughout the project duration to protect our workforce, our customer, as well as the environment and communities surrounding the project.

The client had divided the construction works into multiple contracts such as “Earthworks and Roads”, “Concrete, Piling and other Civil Works”, “Pipelines”, “Heavy Lift”, etc. ENKA, as the “Mechanical, Piping, Structural Steel, Electrical and Instrumentation” works contractor, interfaced with SIPD Operations, Owner’s engineer as well as all other contractors during the execution of the project.

The plant was designed based on the concept of modular packages and modular erection as reasonably as practical within logistics constraints. The majority of the equipment was designed and fabricated in modular skids. The pipe racks were designed and fabricated in modular sections including stuffing of pipe rack modules with pipes, pipe supports and cable trays. Extensive coordination and planning efforts between client’s engineer, vendors, civil works contractor, heavy lift contractor, pipeline contractors as well as sound materials management were required.

ENKA was contracted by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. to carry out structural, mechanical, piping, electrical, instrumentation and telecommunication, painting and insulation works for the project, covering areas for the Central Processing Facilities and Well Pads Facilities. The scope included construction of underground pipe and cable trenches, installation of all underground piping and cables, installation, aligning and welding of pre-fabricated steel structures, modularized packages, process skids, field assembly, erection and installation of various static and rotating equipment and storage tanks, erection of interconnecting piping between pipe racks and skids/equipment, fabrication and erection of piping on sleepers, assembly and installation of modular substations, electrical equipment and instruments, installation of complete electrical and instrumentation systems, performance of all piping and equipment insulation and painting works; pre-commissioning of the plant and all subsystems and providing commissioning support to SIPD Commissioning and Start-Up Team.

• The largest greenfield central processing facility built in Iraq in the last decade
• Commercial production targets planned for the field were achieved, allowing the client to begin exports
• The increase in production is providing revenue that could help further regenerate Iraq
• 3 million person-hours without a lost time incident
• Provided significant training opportunities and turned many local craft with little or no disciplined industrial construction work experience into productive workers
• Achieved 51% Iraqi content on project labor headcount

In addition to the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works, in August 2012, as part of the First Commercial Production, ENKA signed another contract with Shell, to take over the rehabilitation brownfield work at existing Degassing Station DS-2, in order to restore current capacity of 65k bpd to the original design inlet of 100k bpd and further debottleneck the process, in order to increase the production capacity to 120k bpd. The project consisted of implementation of all rehabilitation and upgrading work packages.

The project was executed through separate call-offs for discrete work packages with rehabilitation and upgrading activities performed either in total plant shutdown, partial shutdown or normal operation mode. The plants were isolated wherever required, drained, flushed, purged and prepared to carry out specified works. When complete or partial shut downs were not feasible or allowed, construction works were performed whilst the plants remained operational. ENKA adhered to Shell’s Simultaneous Operation (SIMOPS) procedures strictly to ensure safety of plants and personnel during the execution of discrete scopes. Detailed method statements and construction schedules were prepared for each work package in order not to disturb ongoing operations. ENKA coordinated all interfaces with SIPD Operations, ERW Contractor, Iraqi authorities and other contractors as required.

ENKA was engaged by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. to provide structural, mechanical, piping, electrical, instrumentation, painting and insulation construction services for the various work packages developed for rehabilitation and upgrading of existing crude oil processing facilities at DS-2. Major tasks included erection and installation of chemical injection, metering, instrument air, foam, nitrogen generator packages, hot and cold flares, several static and rotating equipment, with all associated structural, piping, electrical and instrumentation works, performing tie-ins and hot taps as required, conducting all inspections and testing, and providing support to the Owner for pre-commissioning and commissioning activities.

• Oil production capacity through existing facilities rehabilitated to 100k bopd and increased to 120k bopd with debottlenecking upgrades
• The increase in production is providing revenue that could help further regenerate Iraq
• Provided significant training opportunities and turned many local craft with little or no disciplined industrial construction work experience into productive workers
• Achieved 51% Iraqi content on project labor headcount
• Raised awareness relating to health, safety, environment, security and quality amongst direct hired personnel and subcontractors
• 751 thousand work-hours without a lost time incident.