Aramco invites firms for offshore gas contracts

29 July 2010

Contracts cover platforms, pipelines and power cables at Arabiyah and Hasbah fields

Saudi Aramco has released the bid documents for the two major construction contracts on the offshore portion of its $6bn-plus Wasit gas development on the Gulf coast.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages cover the construction of production platforms, pipelines and power cables at two offshore gas fields, Arabiyah and Hasbah.

Aramco sent out bid documents for the deals to prequalified contractors on 24 July and has set a 7 November deadline for technical and commercial proposals. It wants to award the contracts before the end of the year.

Contractors have been given the option of bidding for one or both of the contracts individually or submitting an overarching proposal for both projects.

Among the firms invited to bid on the deal are:

  • China National offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (China)
  • Global Industries Limited (US)
  • Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)
  • National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) (UAE)
  • Saipem (Italy)

The first offshore contract covers the construction of seven offshore wellhead production platforms at the Hasbah field, which can produce up to 1.3 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas from the field, tied in to central distribution facilities.

It includes the seven 12-inch flowlines linking the platforms with the central facility, a 145 kilometre, 36-inch pipeline linking the platform with Wasit, a 99km power cable linking the platform with other offshore facilities and a 62km mono ethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline linking the facilities with those at Arabiyah.

The second contract is for six wellhead platforms at the Arabiyah field, again tied in to central distribution facilities, capable of producing 1.2 billion cf/d of gas. It also includes six 12 inch flowlines, a 150km pipeline linking the facilities with Wasit, a 150km MEG pipeline between Arabiyah and Wasit and a 91km submarine power cable.

The contracts are part of the wider Wasit gas development programme. Under the Wasit scheme, Aramco wants to produce 2.5 billion cf/d of sulphur-rich gas from the offshore Arabiyah and Hasbah fields before transporting it to central processing facilities at Wasit.

Aramco sent out formal invitations to bid on the four main EPC deals for the onshore portion of the project in June (MEED 22:7:2010). They cover the main processing facilities at Wasit, which will be capable of handling 1.7 billion cf/d of gas and 4,800 tonnes a day (t/d) of sulphur. Firms prequalified to bid on these deals have been set a 30 September deadline for proposals.

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.