Works begin on Zuluf water treatment plant says Fisia Italimpianti
The project was awarded to the company last year via two contracts worth $439mn
Construction of a water treatment plant that is part of the Zuluf onshore oil plant complex in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has begun according to Fisia Italimpianti. The firm is part of the Webuild.
The Zuluf oil field, owned and managed by Aramco, is part of a large development programme that began in 2018 within the Saudi Vision 2030 growth plan of Saudi Arabia. The project was awarded to Fisia Italimpianti last year, with the two contracts worth a total of US $439mn, includes building and managing the plant.
Webuild’s positioning in the water market, a sector where it is already leader, has further strengthened, thanks to this project that has allowed Fisia Italimpianti to step into the oil and gas sector, returning to its operation and maintenance activities, said a company statement.
The formal start of construction works follows the engineering design, material procurement and carrying out of the preliminary activities that served to improve the soil’s characteristics. These works were carried out by Fisia Italimpianti during the last few months, to allow the site to be able to host the plant’s foundations.
Once complete, the plant will be able to treat up to 185,000cu/m per day of water, which will be injected in the offshore wells, contributing to increase the production of the field’s crude oil. The plant will include a water de-gassing system that will extract, compress, and deliver the gas found in the water that enters the plant, to the final client. Then, a water treatment and filtration section will follow in the plant, with the aim of clarifying and reducing the content of solids in the water, to make it suitable for the injection in the oil wells. The project also includes auxiliary systems and the buildings that will be used as administrative offices, technical rooms, and control rooms, the statement said.
Fisia Italimpianti is said to boast a strong presence in the Middle East, where it has been building desalination and water treatment plants in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. These plants feature technologically innovative solutions, serving over 20m users.
The Webuild Group is also engaged in several other significant projects in Saudi Arabia. It is currently building 57km of the Connector high-speed railway line for NEOM to link Oxagon and The Line projects. It recently also won the contract to build a lake and unique architectural works at Trojena.
In Ryadh, the company is building 42km of Line 3 of the capital’s metro system, the longest of the metro. The company is also working on Diriyah Square – Package 2 Super-basement Works, the structure of the new Ad-Diriyah neighbourhood that will include a multi-storey parking lot for 10,500 vehicles, the statement concluded.
