SAUDI Aramco has awarded Chinese seismic giant BGP multiple deals to carry out seismic surveys, claimed as the world's largest such contracts by value. Several people with direct knowledge of the deals told Upstream that Aramco has just concluded contracts with BGP involving two onshore 3D seismic surveys in Saudi Arabia and three shallow-water 3D shoots. Sources suggested that the onshore scope would be worth as much as $600 million, while the offshore job covering an area up to 30,000 square kilometres could be valued at $2 billion. The onshore work covers project numbers S90 and S92 and is scheduled to start in about six months, with completion in five years. The offshore scope covers S89, S91 and S93, according to sources. S89 is ocean-bottom node (OBN) survey, while S91 and S93 are transition zone surveys. The onshore scope did not designate particular blocks at the signing of the contract. Aramco will later pin down the areas for the surveys, and the workscope could be expanded based on merit, according to sources. Sources said the bid process, in which about a dozen companies participated, took more than one year.
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