ADNOC scrapped Hail and Ghasha tenders mid-process; first gas slipped from 2025 to 2030

In November 2018 ADNOC signed Eni into the Ghasha Concession: a 40-year, 25% stake in a mega offshore gas development spanning the Hail, Ghasha and Dalma fields off Abu Dhabi, with Wintershall Dea also taking a 10% interest. The fields hold ultra-sour gas plus condensate. Eni's announcement put output at more than 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, on stream 'around the middle of the next decade', which meant roughly 2025. The build concept was punishing: drilling centres and a processing plant on artificial islands, then sulphur handling onshore.

The development then spent years moving through tender rounds without a final investment decision. ADNOC ran early work through pre-construction services agreements (PCSAs) awarded to two international consortia rather than committing to full contracts. In early May 2023 Construction Week reported that ADNOC had terminated both PCSAs — one covering onshore work, one offshore — and started the tender from scratch, on a project that 'has already experienced several years of delay'. Bidders who had spent years and money on engineering for the ultra-sour scope were left with cancelled awards.

The reset was fast once the commercial basis changed. On 5 October 2023, at ADIPEC, ADNOC took final investment decision and awarded two EPC contracts: artificial-island facilities and subsea pipelines to a National Petroleum Construction Company-Saipem joint venture, and the onshore scope to Tecnimont. Saipem put its share of the offshore award at around $4.1 billion. The target for more than 1.5 bscfd of gas moved to 'before the end of the decade', with 1.5 million tonnes a year of CO2 capture folded into a net-zero design.

First gas slipped from 'around the middle of the next decade' (about 2025) to 'before the end of the decade' — five lost years on 1.5 bscfd of gas.

Ultra-sour gas with island-based processing made EPC scope and prices exceptionally hard to fix, so contracts kept being re-scoped instead of awarded.

ADNOC carried the project on pre-construction services agreements with no FID behind them; such agreements can be cancelled without a project, and were.

Each tender restart discarded accumulated engineering, so 'several years of delay' compounded before the 2023 reset even began.

Partner churn added friction: Wintershall Dea's 10% had to be sold on before PTTEP bought it in June 2024.

Tenders that float on pre-FID service agreements invite re-scoping: when economics cannot be fixed, the client cancels and restarts. Limbo costs more than a higher locked price.

PTTEP bought Wintershall Dea's 10% concession stake in June 2024, calling the field one of the largest in the UAE. In December 2025 ADNOC closed an $11 billion structured financing with Eni and PTTEP, backed by more than 20 banks, monetising future midstream output from a concession now expected to deliver 1.8 bscfd. Construction is under way, but first gas is targeted before 2030 — roughly five years behind what the 2018 concession signing promised, with billions more of contracted scope than the cancelled tender carried.