The announcement board of the Hanoi Stock Exchange quietly refreshed in the early morning, and Vietnamese state-owned enterprise PTSC confirmed receipt of the award letter from Qatar Energy, thus finalizing a giant order spanning the Gulf. And what's even more impressive for the industry insiders is that CNOOC, who followed closely behind, also made a final appearance in the bidding, firmly securing another tough spot in their pockets.

One standard and two standards belong to their respective owners

Qatar Energy has handed over the first section of the Maydan Mahzam oil field expansion to a consortium consisting of Vietnam's PTSC and Singapore's Seatrium. PTSC has disclosed through the Hanoi Stock Exchange that it has obtained the first EPCI contract, and its wholly-owned subsidiary PTSC Machinery and Construction Company has also received an award letter from the owner. Both parties will continue to finalize the terms of the contract, which is expected to be officially signed in October 2026. At the same time, CNOOC successfully won the second bid section. Looking back at the end of August 2026, the consortium was still the leading bidder in the first section, and American offshore giant McDermott had an advantage in the second section. However, in the last few rounds of business negotiations, CNOOC offered more competitive conditions, ultimately rewriting the outcome.

Seven platforms support the old oil field

The Maydan Mahzam offshore oil field is located approximately 100 kilometers northeast of the Qatar coastline and 28 kilometers southeast of Halul Island, with a water depth of about 40 meters. It was discovered in the 1960s along with the neighboring Bul Hanine oil field and began production in 1965. As a mature oil field that has been developed for many years, Qatar Energy is expanding, upgrading, and updating existing facilities to extend production life and stabilize long-term crude oil production capacity. The first section of the project has a considerable amount of work, requiring the construction of seven offshore platform upper modules with a total manufacturing weight of over 78000 tons. Among them, the modules on the main process platform are about 19400 tons, and the rest mostly use ten leg pipe racks. It is also necessary to renovate five existing modules, build four connecting bridges, construct support platforms, renovate existing facilities on Halul Island, and lay submarine pipelines and cables. Keywords: Qatar oil fields CNOOC

The second section obtained by CNOOC focuses on the upper facilities of offshore platforms, submarine umbilical cables, and submarine cables, and is responsible for the integration of design, procurement, construction, and installation. This is not the first time that Chinese enterprises have made a move in the Qatar oil sea. When Qatar Energy finalized the Bul Hanine production increase and capacity maintenance project contractor in August 2025, CNOOC had already won the first two sections, and KBR provided detailed design for it. From old oil fields to new blocks, China National Offshore Engineering Corporation is gradually seizing the power of discourse.Editor/Min Jing