Saudi Aramco has received bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the onshore process packages at the $6bn-plus Wasit gas development programme.

Contracting sources within Saudi Arabia tell MEED that the tenders for the project were submitted to the state-owned oil giant on 4 November.

“The bids are in now and we have been told that a decision will be made in early 2011,” a source from one of the bidding contractors says. “A lot of companies are bidding so we expect it to be very competitive.”

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 cubic feet a day of gas and 4,800 tonnes a day (t/d) of sulphur.

They cover the main inlet and gas processing facilities; a power co-generation unit; sulphur recovery facilities made up of four 1,200 t/d units along with the main supporting utilities for the scheme and a natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionating column.

The state energy giant invited 11 groups to bid on the first three contracts:

• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Saipem (Italy)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Technip (France)
• SNC Lavalin (Canada) with Daelim  (South Korea)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Chiyoda Corporation (Japan)
• China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) (China)
• KBR (US)

Only nine contractors were prequalified to bid on the NGL fractionation column:

• Samsung
• Snamprogetti (Italy), which is part of Saipem
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction
• JGC Corporation
• Technip
• SNC Lavalin
• GS Engineering & Construction
• SK Engineering & Construction
• Daelim

MEED reported in early November that the winning contractor for the site preparation contract for the Wasit scheme would now be made in December (MEED 22:10:10).

The Wasit gas scheme will see the two offshore sulphur-heavy gas fields, Arabiyah and Hasbah, undergo development by Aramco. Around 2.5 billion cubic feet a day of gas will be produced from the fields and transported to the processing facility at Wasit.

Aramco is developing the project to service the booming domestic demand for gas in the kingdom.