Saudi Aramco has selected three contractors to build a major natural gas liquids (NGL) plant at Hawiyah and expand the Juaymah gas fractionation plant. Both projects are being tendered under Aramco's Hawiyah NGL recovery programme (MEED 18:2:05).

Japan's JGC Corporationhas been selected for package one on the Hawiyah NGL plant project. The company submitted the lowest offer, estimated at $1,000 million, for the lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) contract. The project calls for the construction of an NGL plant with capacity to treat 3,800 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas to produce dry gas, NGL and ethane.

Italy's Snamprogettiwill carry out package two on the NGL plant, which is worth about $800 million and covers gas treatment and compression facilities. Both contracts are expected to be signed by the end of March. Engineering is expected to take at least 12 months, with mechanical completion scheduled for December 2007. Paris-based Technipand US-based Bechtelalso submitted offers for the two packages.

Spain's Tecnicas Reunidashas been selected for the contract to expand the Juaymah gas fractionation plant as part of the Hawiyah NGL recovery programme. The company is understood to have submitted a price of $360 million-370 million, more than $100 million below the second lowest offer. The other bidders were South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Companyand Italy-based Techint.

The contract calls for the construction of a fourth train to fractionate 270,000 barrels a day (b/d) of ethane and NGL and 100,000 b/d of propane and NGL. Project completion is also scheduled for December 2007.

Invitation to bid documents are now scheduled to be released in mid-March by Aramco for the estimated $350 million-400 million project to expand the existing Hawiyah gas plant. The US' Jacobs Engineeringis the project management consultant (PMC) on the overall programme.