UAE projects progress, awards at Trion and Sparta and Brazil FPSO bids submitted Industry news sources report that the Saipem/NPCC consortium and Tecnimont have again emerged as the frontrunners for the major offshore and onshore EPC packages for Adnoc''s Hail and Ghasha sour gas project, with awards possibly being made as early as October. Adnoc Gas has reportedly awarded a sizeable engineering contract to Wood for the recently launched Project 5.0 in the emirate, while a second expansion phase at the Shah gas field has attracted interest from Saipem, Petrofac and Tecnicas amongst others, according to Upstream. Also in the Middle East, Technip Energies has been selected to carry out pre-FEED studies at the disputed Durra offshore gas field, states Upstream. In the Americas, Seatrium confirmed award of a letter of intent for the FPU at Shell''s Sparta deepwater development ahead of likely 2023 FID, while Woodside announced multiple formal awards to the supply chain for the Trion deepwater development offshore Mexico. In Brazil, FPSO bids were submitted by Asian contractors related to the Sepia and Atapu fields. Exploration/Seismic: date set for next US GoM lease sale in September The US government has set a date for the next lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, with the auction (''Lease Sale 261'') scheduled for 27th September. Following a successful auction in March, the US BOEM will offer 12,395 blocks across 67m acres in the Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas in the outer continental shelf. The March round saw $263.8m of winning bids for 313 tracts covering about 1.6m acres, with 32 companies participating. With a sizeable US GoM data library, a successful auction should be supportive for CGG in our view. Chart of the week - US OCTG prices fall 8% in August as rig demand slows further The Pipe Logix report was out last night, showing a sharp drop in US OCTG pricing m/m. Seamless pricing fell 7.8% to $2,954/t (metric) and welded fell 9.5%...