Estimated to be worth $400 million-$450 million, the work will be carried out in at least four packages - two for platforms, another for pipelines, with associated facilities, and a fourth for scrapper decks. The contract includes the installation of seven production platforms at Safaniya and Berri and nine at the Marjan and Zuluf fields. Bids have been submitted for the packages separately as well as an overall quote.

The bidders include the local/Malaysian team of Rafid Group, with Ramunia Arabia; the US' Global Offshore, with Abu Dhabi-based Subtec National Company; Jebel Ali-based J Ray McDermott (Middle East); Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC); Italy's Saipem; and an Egyptian team of Petrojet, with Arab Company for Projects & Maintenance. The facilities will take about 20 months to install.

Aramco is ramping up investment offshore, as part of its plans to increase production capacity from the offshore fields by 450,000 barrels a day (b/d) by 2009/10. In mid-2005, it awarded two LSTK contracts to McDermott and NPCC to fabricate and install five wellhead jackets, five drill decks, 42 electric submersible pumps and a 50-kilometre-long main oil transfer line at Safaniya, Zuluf and Marjan. Both contracts were worth a total of $350 million-400 million (MEED 26:8:05).

In early April, two more offshore contracts were awarded to McDermott. Worth an estimated $350 million, they cover the fabrication and installation of two drilling support structures in Zuluf, four wellhead production platforms at the Safaniya central production facilities and Zuluf and a 22-kilometre gas pipeline.