Annual oil and gas contracts activity rose 51 percent in disclosed contract value and nine percent in the number of contracts in 2021, GlobalData has revealed.

According to a new GlobalData report, the disclosed contract value increased from $115.42 billion in 2020 to $174.21 billion in 2021 and the number of contracts rose from 5,750 in 2020 to 6,263 in 2021.

In terms of single scopes, Operation and Maintenance (O&M) represented 44 percent of the total contracts in 2021, followed by contracts with procurement scope with 20 percent, the report highlighted. Multiple scopes, such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement, accounted for around 17 percent of the total contracts last year, the report revealed.

“Improved crude oil prices and Covid-19 subsiding provided a boost to contracts activity, with notable contracts such as Qatar Petroleum’s North Field East Project (NFE) LNG project and Saudi Aramco’s 16 contracts, with a combined worth of $10 billion for the subsurface and EPC works for the development of the Jafurah shale gas field in Saudi Arabia,” Pritam Kad, an oil and gas Analyst at GlobalData, said in a company statement.

Last month, GlobalData highlighted that, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the oil and gas industry had seen an increase of 77 percent in overall contract value, along with a decrease of 14 percent in the number of contracts. Although the number of contracts declined from 1,608 in the third quarter of 2021 to 1,383 in the fourth quarter, overall contract value increased from $34.32 billion in the third quarter to $60.84 billion in the fourth quarter, according to a GlobalData statement at the time.

In a statement sent to Rigzone in March 2021, GlobalData noted that oil and gas contract activity remained “subdued” in 2020. The statement outlined that the number of oil and gas contracts fell from 6,971 in 2019, with a value of $151.06 billion, to 5,014 in 2020, totaling $94.29 billion.