Abu Dhabi has cancelled a tender to build a gas treatment plant on Das Island as part of its Integrated Gas Development Expansion (IGD-E), according to sources familiar with the project.

Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (Adgas) received commercial engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids for the fourth package of the IGD-E on 6 December 2015.

Italy-based Tecnimont submitted the low bid for the package, but Adgas considered the prices to be too high, sources told MEED.

The EPC bidders were thought to include:

• Petrofac (UK)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Tecnimont (Italy)

Package 4 covers the construction of a gas treatment plant and associated facilities on Das Island in the Gulf off the coast of Abu Dhabi.

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and its subsidiaries are carrying out the IGD-E to produce 400 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of additional gas from offshore fields to increase onshore gas sales.

Adgas returned the bid bond to contractors after the cancellation of the tender, but it is unclear when the package will be retendered.

The original $11bn IGD was completed in 2014. The operation has the capacity to process 1 million cf/d of gas from the offshore Umm Shaif field.

Package 4 was set to be the fourth major contract awarded on the IGD-E, following a string of deals in early 2015 to build pipelines and gas processing facilities.

Package 1, which was also tendered by Adgas and covers gas processing facilities, was awarded to a consortium of Tecnimont and UAE-based Archirodon for $491m.

Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) was awarded the offshore section of the pipeline (package 2) by Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (Gasco) for $410m.

Tecnicas Reunidas was awarded the onshore pipeline (package 3) by Gasco in a deal worth $700m.