Saudi Aramco has selected South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction (SK E&C) and Samsung Engineering to carry out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the four onshore packages at the $6bn-plus Wasit gas development programme.

SK E&C is the big winner after being selected for three packages. The contractor will be responsible for the main inlet and gas processing facilities; natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionating column, and sulphur recovery facilities comprising four 1,200 tonne-a-day (t/d) units; along with the main supporting utilities for the scheme.

“SK has done well for land three packages,” says a contracting source in the kingdom. “A lot of people thought that Aramco would not risk giving one contractor that much work on a single project.”

Samsung Engineering beat off aggressive bidding from a number of its South Korean rivals to win the cogeneration plant contract. South Korea’s Daelim was expected to win the cogeneration plant along with SK E&C for the other packages (MEED 21:10:10).

“Samsung [Engineering] will be delighted to win this one,” the source says. “Getting in-kingdom experience for Aramco in the power sector is what a number of companies are trying to do at the moment.”

Under the Wasit scheme, Aramco wants to produce 2.5 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of sulphur-rich non-associated gas from the offshore Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, located off the coast of the Eastern Province, before transporting it to central processing facilities at Wasit.

The four EPC contracts are for the main processing facilities at Wasit, on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast, which will be capable of handling 1.7 billion cf/d of gas and 4,800 t/d of sulphur.