Offshore engineering giant Saipem announced that the company, through its subsidiary PT Saipem Indonesia, as the lead consortium consisting of PT Tripatra Engineers & Constructors, PT Tripatra Engineering and PT McDermott Indonesia, has received formal notification from INPEX Masela that it has been awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Abadi LNG project’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in the Masela Block, Indonesia.
INPEX Masela is the Indonesian subsidiary of INPEX Corporation, a Japanese international oil developer.
According to information released by Saipem, the bid was awarded following a technical and commercial pre-selection process, marking the start of a competitive dual FEED phase. During this phase, the two consortiums will each submit independent technical proposals, and the proposal with the most technical and commercial advantages will be selected to proceed to the subsequent engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase.
The Abadi LNG project is designed to have an annual production capacity of 10.5 million tons of natural gas equivalent, with an estimated daily condensate production of 35,000 barrels.
INPEX Corporation, a Japanese joint-stock company, specializes in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It is Japan’s largest upstream oil and natural gas company, headquartered in Tokyo.
Saipem is a comprehensive energy services company, according to its official website. It currently operates six facilities and an offshore fleet of 21 construction vessels, 17 of which are owned, along with 15 drilling rigs (nine of which are owned). Subsea7 specializes in engineering, construction, and services in the offshore energy sector, with a fleet of approximately 40 vessels.
In related news, Saipem and Subsea7 have signed a binding merger agreement, expected to close in the second half of 2026. Under the agreement, the proposed merger of Saipem and Subsea7 will be structured as a cross-border EU merger, with Subsea7 merging into Saipem. The new company, to be named Saipem7, will be held 50% by each company.
The new company after the merger will be headquartered in Milan and listed on the Milan and Oslo stock exchanges, with total backlog orders reaching €43 billion.
Saipem7 will operate in four business segments: offshore engineering and construction, onshore engineering and construction, sustainable infrastructure, and offshore drilling.
After the merger, this “giant” offshore engineering company will have about 44,000 employees, including more than 9,000 engineers and project managers, a diversified fleet of more than 60 ships, and operations in more than 60 countries around the world. Its business covers a variety of offshore operations from shallow water to ultra-deep water, and will provide a complete portfolio of offshore and onshore services from drilling, engineering, construction to oilfield life cycle services and decommissioning services, and can better optimize the project progress of customers in the fields of oil, gas, carbon capture and renewable energy.