UK consultant Amec is the frontrunner for a major project management consultant (PMC) contract for the environmental remediation of oil fields across Kuwait.

Amec submitted the lowest proposal at $34.36m in a 20 March bid round. The company beat rival prices from Australia’s Worley Parsons at $39.61m and SMEC International, also of Australia who submitted a price of $44.96m.

Nine firms were prequalified to bid for the deal which will involve drawing up a nine-year project plan, including the preparation of an explosive ordnance detection strategy and technical specifications for tenders to enable detailed design and procurement. A contract award is expected in May.

The environmental damage at the oil fields was caused the the Iraqi invasion in 1991

State upstream operator, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) awarded three contracts in February for the decontamination of soil in the country’s south eastern oil fields. The deals, worth a total of $163.7m went to South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction, Spain’s Hera and India’s Teri.

The environmental damage at the oil fields was caused by the Iraqi invasion in 1991. The south eastern fields have been divided into three groups known as A, B and C. Hera submitted the lowest combined bid for the three deals at about $151m, but was only awarded one deal.