Contractors working on the various packages of Saudi Aramco’s Fadhili gas processing plant have completed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the $6.5bn project.

The Fadhili gas processing complex is being built 30 kilometres southwest of the existing Khursaniyah gas plant in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, and will have the capacity to process 2.5 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d).

EPC works on the five main EPC packages of the Fadhili gas plant were completed in December, according to a source.

The five EPC packages were awarded in 2015.

Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas was awarded packages 1 and 2, worth $2bn and $1bn, respectively.

The scope of work on the two packages relates to building the central gas processing facility, and the utilities and interconnecting systems.

UK-based Petrofac won the contract for package 3, worth about $1.7bn. The scope includes the construction of six sulphur recovery trains with associated facilities for sulphur and heavy duty oil handling, loading, unloading and storage; sour water stripper, flare system and waste water treatment plant.

The fourth EPC package, worth about $450m, was awarded to a consortium of India’s Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering, Saudi Arabia’s Arkad Engineering & Construction and local firm Denys Arabia.

Package 4 relates to construction of a pipeline network connecting the Fadhili gas plant to its feeder oil and gas fields, and to other gas plants in the Eastern Province.

A fifth package for industrial support facilities at the Fadhili gas plant site was awarded to local firm Al-Muhaidib Contracting.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) work on the Fadhili project was carried out by the UK-headquartered Wood Group. The firm is also the project management consultant.

The Fadhili plant will process sour gas from the offshore Khursaniyah oil field and the offshore Hasbah non-associated gas field.

The Fadhili gas project is vital to Aramco’s goal of nearly doubling its gas production and processing capacity from 12 billion cf/d to 23 billion cf/d by the end of the next decade.