Qatar's maritime and logistics firm Milaha said it entered into a formal agreement with U.S. headquartered oilfield services firm Schlumberger to cooperate on projects that will localize the energy sector supply chain, including the construction of a Qatari offshore oil well stimulation vessel.
Milaha said its offshore and marine arm signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will support value building projects while jointly driving Qatar Petroleum-led Tawteen program, which aims to localize the energy sector’s supply chain and create new investment opportunities to retain ‘economic value’ in Qatar.
Signed as a five-year joint development project, it will include a Qatar-owned, -flagged and -operated stimulation vessel to be designed and outfitted in the country, creating the inaugural FLEXSTIM platform, which will be modified, owned and operated locally, Milaha said.
Pre-engineering work is already underway and will evolve during the final quarter of 2020, the company noted.
Schlumberger has been present in Qatar's oil and gas sector for more than 70 years, supplying services such as seismic acquisition and processing, well testing and directional drilling, artificial lifts, well completions and groundwater extraction.