A river in the desert

Jafurah means ‘river’ in Arabic. The river we’re talking about today is of a different kind: the Jafurah unconventional gas field is the largest liquid-rich shale gas field in the Middle East. Liquid-rich means it’s rich in condensates and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Located near the coast in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the 170km long and 100km wide Jafurah field is a vast, remote, undeveloped area in the desert. At least for now, with the first phase of the development of the project underway. By 2035, when all eleven phases are due to be completed, this will have changed dramatically.

The Jafurah gas field is intended primarily to provide natural gas for domestic power generation, as well as a valuable feedstock for petrochemical production, as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its energy mix and reduce its dependence on oil.

Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas found in shale formations scattered across Jafurah’s 17,000km² area. When phase one is completed, the facility will consist of a dedicated surface network including a gas processing plant, an NGL fractionation plant, a gas compression system, and a network of approximately 1,500 kilometres of main transmission pipelines, flowlines, and gas gathering pipelines.

The Jafurah megaproject is Saudi Aramco’s largest investment using the latest technologies while maintaining high environmental and safety standards. Contracts worth $10 billion have already been signed for the first phase of the gas plant, which is expected to be operational by 2025.

In this first phase, KAEFER is an approved contractor for access, coating, fireproofing, refractory and insulation services, active with more than 400 workers on site in 2024. Next year the KAEFER Team will increase to around 700. Jafurah is planned as a fast-track project, which means that Saudi Aramco wants to carry out two phases in parallel. This is also the reason why they have opted for a modular approach, which has never been done on this scale before. A prime example of this approach is the modular scaffolding that KAEFER is erecting one kilometre away from the site in a dedicated yard. Once assembled, the modules are lifted by crane and trailered to the restricted area on site, saving a total of around six months compared with a conventional approach.

Meet Rahul Sakhare, he’s KAEFER’s project manager for Jafurah. Rahul has been with KAEFER for nine years and has worked his way up. “Our project approach is to identify risks and opportunities, areas for improvement, using tools such as LEAN glasses & wide angle,” explains Rahul. He continues: “The term LEAN glasses refers to the ability to identify waste in processes once trained. With LEAN glasses, we can see inefficiencies that we couldn’t see before. ‘Wide angle’ emphasises that LEAN is not limited to operational processes, but also extends to administrative processes, taking a broader perspective. Continuous improvement and training the team to follow the LEAN path leads to further improvement and much more to come”.

After the Marjan oil field development project, Jafurah is KAEFER’s second mega-project in Saudi Arabia after the Covid pandemic. And it has thrown one challenge after another at him and his team…

Challenge One – Material shortages

Normally, an increase in scope is something that puts a smile on our face, as it demonstrates customer confidence in our services, professionalism and quality. But when combined with transit blockages, it can quickly become a real challenge. With the majority of materials being imported and the global challenges of ocean shipping, Rahul and his team had to mitigate the impact by diverting material directly to the site rather than the central warehouse. This saved significant transport time, as well as waiting time by moving the colour coding for easy traceability of our assets and related activities there.

Challenge Two – Skill Assessment Tests

A project of this size requires many people: scaffolders, supervisors, insulators, welders and many more. Some of our access solutions involve suspended scaffolding, so staff need to be trained in this type of work, too. Our client has introduced competency testing to ensure health and safety at all levels. But when hundreds of people have to be tested, the waiting time for scheduling the tests, verifying documents etc. takes a while. KAEFER and the client agreed to avoid any loss of man-hours and to allow employees to work on site as support staff until all the test results had been successfully approved. In addition, Rahul has set up a training team to develop the skills of scaffolders in both underhung and suspended scaffolding, to ensure that the knowledge of the workforce is constantly developed and improved throughout the duration of the project.

Challenge Three –  Damage of work

When you think of Saudi Arabia, you don’t necessarily think of heavy rains, do you? But with Jafurah’s location close to the Persian Gulf, this is a real challenge. As if that weren’t enough, there are also strong winds and sandstorms – this is the desert, after all. This meant that some work had to be redone. With access to the project site being at the mercy of the elements, KAEFER decided to prefabricate as much as possible. Our yard in Jubail, about three hours away, provides a controlled environment in which the coating work can be carried out to the highest quality. As this is a KAEFER LEAN project and LEAN principles, techniques and systems have been applied from day one, efficiency and continuous improvement are a given.

Challenge 4 – Poor food

Imagine you’re a scaffolder on the remote Jafurah site in the middle of the desert. It’s hot, it’s windy, it’s physically demanding. So, the one thing you look forward to every day is your lunch break. You need a tasty meal that will feed both your body and your mind. Well, let’s put it this way: that wasn’t the case. Due to its geographical location, the undeveloped area didn’t have a lot of caterers to choose from. As we all know, if the food is not good, the mood suffers, so the team had to come up with a solution quickly. Of course, they couldn’t work magic, but they joined forces with the other contractors on site to improve the situation. Talks were held with the caterer, menus were discussed and chosen – and fortunately the food has improved considerably, and everyone is now properly fed and happy.

Many of these challenges were caused by the fact that the project site is so remote. It didn’t even have electricity or internet at the beginning, it’s actually being built from scratch in the desert. This makes the success of the project all the more appreciated. Ultimately, it was the dedicated team around Rahul that made it happen. Morning, afternoon and evening meetings to promote safety, responsibility and cooperation helped keep the project on track. Not forgetting the regular visits to the site by senior management, who demonstrated their commitment and support at all levels. A particularly memorable moment was the ‘Chocolate Hour’, where the team’s efforts were actively recognised, boosting morale and team spirit.

All in all, the challenges were successfully overcome, and the team received awards from Saudi Aramco for meeting high standards and achieving set milestones. We are proud to play an important role in this landmark project and look forward to continuing to do so – potentially for the coming phases.