Saudi Aramco has issued the tenders for its planned $5bn gas processing plant adjacent to the Fadhili oil field in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

MEED reported in November that the capacity for the Fadhili gas plant was being increased from 1 billion standard cubic feet a day (scf/d) to 2.5 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) and this is being incorporated. However, only three tenders will be released as per the original plan, albeit in a slightly amended form to accommodate the additional capacity.

Nine international engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have been invited to bid on the scheme. They are:

• CTCI (Taiwan)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Saipem (Italy)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Tecnimont (Italy)

The Fadhili plant will process sour gas from the Khursaniyah oil field and the Hasbah non-associated gas field. Aramco has ramped up its offshore non-associated gas operations in the Gulf in recent years and is developing several fields in the region. These include the Karan, Hasbah and Arabiyah fields.

Much of the gas contained in the oil major’s Eastern Province hydrocarbon assets is sour, meaning it has a high sulphur content. This makes it more difficult to process than sweeter gas, which has minimal amounts of sulphur.

The contract model will be lump-sum turnkey with a percentage of the engineering work and project management to be carried out overseas. The proposed packages from the initial scope were:

• Sulphur recovery unit (SRU)
• Process utilities
• Gas inlet and treatment

The deadline for bid submissions has been set at 15 April. The UK’s Amec Foster Wheeler is carrying out the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the project.

The tender comes after MEED reported that Aramco had decided to stall its $3bn Ras Tanura Clean Fuels Project for 12 months.