Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (Gasco), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has released two tenders for sulphur production and distribution facilities in the emirate, and is expected to release a third by the end of July.

For the first tender, Gasco has pushed back the deadline for technical submissions for a sulphur handling and export terminal at Ruwais by three weeks to 27 July from 6 July, says a source close to the deal. Commercial bid deadlines have not yet been announced. 

The terminal will bring the port’s total sulphur capacity up to 20,000 tonnes a day (t/d). Prospective bidders received tender documents from Gasco during the week ended 7 June (MEED 24:7:10).

Firms bidding on the deal include:

• Techint (France) and Al-Jaber (Abu Dhabi)
• Dodsal (India) and Punj Lloyd (India)
• Saipem (Italy)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Consolidated Construction Company (Athens-based)

For its second tender, Gasco has set a 17 August deadline for technical submissions and 28 September for commercial bids for a processing plant at Habshan. Firms invited to bid for the deal include:

• Techint and Al-Jaber
• Dodsal and  Punj Lloyd
• Saipem
• GS Engineering & Construction
• Consolidated Construction Company
• Petrofac (UK)

The facility will be used to form and granulate 10,000 t/d of sulphur in the Western Region produced through existing facilities and Adnoc’s new integrated gas development, which will add 700 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas.

Along with Habshan, Gasco is also expected to invite the same firms to bid for a deal to build a second 10,000 t/d facility at the Shah gas field in the south. The tender is expected to be launched by the end of July.

Adnoc subsidiary Abu Dhabi Gas Development Company (ADGD) was set up to oversee the Shah project, but according to contractors, the project is now being developed by Gasco. ADGD was formerly a 60:40 joint venture of Adnoc and US energy major ConocoPhillips, but is now wholly owned by the state firm.

The deals are part of a plan to build an estimated $2bn of new sulphur handling and distribution facilities to increase production fourfold over the next five years. All three projects will be linked by a railway line, which is being developed by federal rail firm Union Railway. Total sulphur production in the emirate is expected to increase to 7 million tonnes a year (t/y) by 2015 from 1.7 million t/y in 2008.