Saudi Aramco has invited a total of nine contractors to prequalify for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for its planned expansion at the Khurais oil field.

MEED reported in January that Aramco was planning a mid-year tender for the scheme, which is estimated to have a budget of more than $3bn and will be one of Aramco’s most significant contract awards of the year. The initial timeline for the tenders was believed to be mid-2014, but this has been brought forward so an award can be made by the third quarter.

The nine contractors are:

• CB&I Lummus (US)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• Foster Wheeler Milan (Italy)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Tecnimont (Italy)

The US’ Foster Wheeler is carrying out the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the scheme.

Aramco plans to add 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) to the field’s current capacity of 1.2 million b/d. The scope of work will include the installation of crude handling, stabilisation and gas compression facilities, as well as pipelines and offsites and utilities.

Several packages will be tendered, but the exact scope for each will not be known until Aramco floats them to contractors. There is expected to be at least three large process packages put out to tender.

Khurais is located adjacent to the Ghawar oil field, one of the world’s largest, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It began operations in 2009 and produces 1.2 million b/d of light Arabian crude, 320 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas and 80,000 b/d of natural gas liquids (NGLs).

The expansion at Khurais, as well as the planned increase of 250,000 b/d at the Shaybah field in the Empty Quarter, will ease production at other oil fields and will not increase the kingdom’s 12.5-million-b/d capacity. 

Saudi Arabia is forecast to produce about 9.5 million b/d of crude oil in 2014.