Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) is expected to release tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the offshore non-associated Dorra gas field in the late second or early third quarters of 2012.

The front-end engineering and design is currently being completed by Australia’s WorleyParsons and when the full scope has been clarified contractors will be invited to bid.

“This [project] has been a long time coming, but we are expecting it to move in the summer,” says a contracting source based in Saudi Arabia. “It will be smaller in scope than Aramco’s Wasit Gas Development, but there should still be at least two large contracts for offshore and onshore work as well as offsites and utilities.”    

No finite details will be known until the tender is released. The full details of the scheme is yet to be formulated, but the scope of works is expected to include the EPC of six offshore platforms with interconnecting flowlines, gas gathering equipment, 200 kilometres of 30-inch pipe and 100km of subsea cables, as well as extensive onshore gas processing facilities.

The value of the project is not yet known, but contractors are estimating the offshore package to be worth $1.5bn and the onshore packages at around $1bn.

The contractors prequalified for the offshore work include:

• McDermott (US)
• Leighton Offshore (Australia)
• National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Swiber (Singapore)

The Dorra field lies in the Divided Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which is why it comes under the jurisdiction of KJO. The field contains an estimated 60 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The long-awaited scheme has been the subject of much speculation in regards to how the gas will be shared between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran, who all claim partial sovereignty of the field. In January Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, chairman of Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), was quoted by Iranian media outlets as saying Tehran would unilaterally develop the Arash gas field if Kuwait did not accept an offer for joint development.

KJO is jointly run by Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Gulf Operations Company. The companies are subsidiaries of their respective state national oil companies, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and Saudi Aramco.