Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) has started the bidding process for the second phase of its inter-refinery pipeline project by asking international engineering firms to formally express interest in the main part of the deal.

Contractors working in the emirate say Takreer sent out letters on 7 December asking them to notify the state refiner that they wanted to bid on the deal, to build 230 kilometres of pipelines linking the Asab oil field with the company’s Ruwais refining complex, by 20 December.

Among the firms invited to express interest were Italy’s Techint and Saipem, South Korea’s Samsung, the Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), India’s Dodsal, and Paris-based Technip.

Executives involved in the project say they expect tender documents for the deal to be issued by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract is worth an estimated $700-800m.

The project is the second part of Takreer’s programme to build pipelines linking its refining facilities with major oilfields in the emirate (MEED 11:9:09).