Egypt’s Petrojet Wins Cronos Onshore Gas Line Contract and an $11 Million McDermott Award
Petrojet will design, supply and build the 57 km onshore line from the Zohr field’s facilities to the Damietta liquefaction plant, part of the export route for Cyprus’s Cronos gas.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said on 3 November that the Egyptian contractor has also won $11 million of deepwater fabrication for the field from McDermott. In The Edge’s reading, the awards widen what Egypt takes from Cronos: its plants are to process and liquefy the Cypriot gas once it flows, and an Egyptian company is now contracted to build part of the route before it does.
Petrojet takes the onshore leg as general contractor
Petrojet signed the agreement as general contractor for the line, which is 36 inches in diameter. The ministry gives the length as 57 km in its summary and as an estimated 57 km in the body of its statement.
The line belongs to the system that links Cronos gas to Egyptian infrastructure, so that the gas can be produced and exported to world markets. The ministry gave no value for the contract.
Eni’s list of the Cronos contracts, set out earlier, includes an onshore line under an engineering, procurement and construction contract. It sits beside the offshore sealines, the subsea production system, the floating control unit and the drilling rig services.
The agreement was signed at the ceremony for Eni’s Cronos agreements, hosted at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia on 26 October. President Nikos Christodoulides and Michael Damianos, Cyprus’s Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, attended, as did Petrojet’s chairman and managing director.
McDermott hands Petrojet $11 million of deepwater fabrication
McDermott, one of the companies that signed in Nicosia, awarded Petrojet the fabrication of deepwater facilities for the Cronos field. The work is worth $11 million and weighs an estimated 900 tonnes, the ministry said.
Two further fabrication packages are targeted for Petrojet. They would lift the total weight of work expected to go to the company to an estimated 3,000 tonnes, the ministry said. These are targets, not awards, and no value has been given for them.
On the ministry’s approximate figures, the first award is 30% of the targeted weight. That leaves 2,100 tonnes for the two further packages, 2.3 times the first award.
Petrojet is also preparing its technical and financial offers for the works that tie Cypriot gas into the Zohr facilities and the Damietta plant.
Petrojet’s Cronos awards, as stated by the ministry
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Onshore line length | 57 km (est.) |
| Onshore line diameter | 36 in |
| Role on the line | General contractor |
| McDermott fabrication award | $11m |
| Weight of that award | 900 t (est.) |
| Further packages targeted | 2 |
| Total weight targeted | 3,000 t (est.) |
The ministry’s release of 3 November 2026. Figures marked (est.) are approximate in its text; it gives the line length and the 900 tonnes without a qualifier in its summary. No value was given for the line contract.
Petrojet’s fabrication work, on The Edge’s calculation
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| First award, share of target | 30% (est.) |
| Weight left for two packages | 2,100 t (est.) |
| Left to award, against first | 2.3x (est.) |
Computed from the ministry’s figures of 3 November 2026. The tonnages are its approximations, so the results are approximate as well.
Petrojet signed in Nicosia beside Saipem, Technip and McDermott
Nine agreements with a combined value of an estimated $1.8 billion were signed at the ceremony, the ministry said. Besides Petrojet and McDermott, the companies it named are Baker Hughes, Dalmine, Technip, Oceaneering, China Merchants Heavy Industry, Saipem and Tenaris. The package itself was set out earlier.
Cronos sits in Block 6 offshore Cyprus, where Eni is operator with a 50% interest alongside TotalEnergies.
Eni expects start-up in the first half of 2028 and a plateau of up to 500 million standard cubic feet a day. The gas is to be processed through existing Egyptian facilities, including the Zohr infrastructure, and liquefied at the Damietta LNG plant for export, primarily to Europe.
These project details were set out earlier, as was Damietta’s readiness. On 21 October the ministry said the plant can receive Cronos gas once the field is developed, and put its capacity at an estimated 6 million tonnes of LNG a year. The plant shipped its first cargo in 2005.
Egypt offers its contractors as well as its plants
The ministry said the awards reflect Petrojet’s growing ability to deliver large oil and gas projects and strengthen its presence in regional and international markets. It set them within close gas cooperation between Egypt and Cyprus, and within the minister’s push for regional energy integration.
At ADIPEC on 3 November, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi named Cronos as a working model of regional integration, using the Zohr field and the Damietta liquefaction plant to carry, process, liquefy and export Cypriot gas. That session was set out here the same day.
Badawi also said Egyptian companies have the expertise and technical capabilities to take part in energy projects and gas network development across the region and Africa, as well as to expand in international markets, including Romania.
As set out earlier, the ministry named the Aphrodite field on 21 October alongside Cronos among the Cypriot fields to be connected to Egyptian infrastructure.
What to watch: The award of the two further fabrication packages targeted for Petrojet, which the ministry has not dated, and Cronos start-up, expected in the first half of 2028.
Figures are from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources release of 3 November 2026 on Petrojet’s Cronos awards, with context from Eni’s release of 26 October 2026 and the ministry’s releases of 21 October and 3 November 2026; percentages and comparisons not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.
Sources: Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Eni, The Edge.
