McDermott International maintained operations on the offshore portion of QatarEnergy's North Field East expansion throughout the period of conflict involving Iran, company officials said.
The contractor is responsible for installing offshore infrastructure that will carry natural gas from Qatar's North Field to new liquefied natural gas plants being constructed at Ras Laffan Industrial City. That scope includes offshore platforms, subsea pipelines and associated infrastructure to feed gas into the planned LNG trains.
At the Energy Projects Conference in Houston, McDermott executive McKelvy said work did not stop during the conflict, although he acknowledged that some operational limitations were imposed while the situation persisted. He said the company expects to complete its portion of the project on schedule once conditions stabilize.
The North Field East expansion is described as the initial phase of QatarEnergy's strategy to grow its LNG output. The project is projected to increase the country's export capacity by roughly 32 million tonnes per year.
Onshore liquefaction facilities are being developed under an engineering, procurement and construction contract led by a consortium headed by Technip Energies. McDermott's offshore installations are intended to supply gas to those new onshore trains once both offshore and onshore work are completed and the site conditions allow continued full operations.
The company's remarks at the Houston conference emphasized continuity of work during the security incident, while also noting that operational constraints were in effect. McKelvy framed the completion timeline as dependent on a return to stable conditions, at which point McDermott anticipates finishing its assigned scope.
Contextual note - The material here is limited to the details provided by company comments and project descriptions; no additional scheduling or contractual details were disclosed.