Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco) is inviting technical bids for the contract to build the emirate’s multi-billion-dollar integrated gas transfer system, following a delay of two months.

Prequalified firms will enter technical bids for the main construction contracts on the integrated gas development (IGD) project on 7 May, with submission of commercial bids expected to follow in late June or early July.

The new bid date comes after Gasco delayed the original deadline of 1 March to allow new bidders to enter the process, in an effort to increase competition and drive down prices.

The project covers the production and transfer of more than 700 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of high-pressure gas from the offshore Umm Shaif and Khuff reservoirs to new onshore processing facilities at Hab-shan and Ruwais, via Das island.

Firms have already submitted bids on two smaller engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for Gasco. The bid deadline for the first EPC contract - a $50-100m flare gas handling and emission reduction project at Habshan - was in late March.

The client on the project is Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (Adgas). Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company, India’s Punj Lloyd, Italy’s Saipem and the UK’s Petrofac all bid for the contract.

The project is part of Abu Dhabi’s plan to minimise the environmental impact of gas flaring.

The scope of the work includes the design and installation of oil and gas compressors and heat exchanges as part of two process packages. It also covers two sets of offsites and utilities, including nitrogen, steam and water instrumentation, buildings to house the process units, firefighting systems, and modifications to existing substations.

The firms that bid for the second contract, covering a major storage development in the Hamriyah free zone in Sharkah, include the UAE’s Al-Jaber Group, India’s Punj Lloyd, Italy’s Bellelli, Indian/German Indian Oiltanking Company, and South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction. The bid deadline was 5 April.

The contract covers the construction of nine individual tanks with a total volume of 83,000 cubic metres for the storage of refined oil and gas products including jet fuel, diesel, gasoline and fuel oil.

The facility will be a supply hub for Adnoc For Distribution (Adnoc Fod) service stations in Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and central regions of the UAE.

Contractors are also turning their attentions to the estimated $10bn Shah gas development, to develop about 1 million cf/d of sour gas from the Shah field.