The pipeline prequalifiers include: Saipem of Italy, with Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC); and France's AMEC Spie Capag, with A Hak Pijpleidingen of the Netherlands.

The EPC contract covers the supply and installation of a 320-kilometre-long, 36-inch-diameter pipeline to transport 900 million cubic feet a day of gas from the Marib field to the proposed liquefaction plant at Bal Haf. Two more pipelines are proposed: a 200-kilometre, 14-inch pipeline from Marib to Sanaa, and a 26-kilometre transfer line between the two existing upstream gas treatment facilities. The US' Bechtel and Paris-based Technip have completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies on the package.

Technical bids for the main plant package are due to be submitted on 17 May. Two groups of companies are prequalified to price the contract. They are: Technip,with Japan's JGC Corporationand US-based Kellogg Brown & Root;and US-based Foster Wheeler, with Chiyoda Corporation of Japan.