Iraq’s Oil Ministry has set out its timeline for technical and commercial proposals for its long awaited crude oil export pipeline to Jordan, a deal worth an estimated $7bn.

A pre-bid clarification meeting is expected to be held on 31 January 2014, after which they must confirm the composition of their group to the Oil Ministry by the end of February, according to documents seen by MEED. The clarification period will close at the end of March.

Technical proposals are due on 15 May, followed by commercial proposals and bid bonds of $50m on 30 June. The Oil Ministry expects to complete its evaluation in the middle of July and to conclude negotiations with its preferred bidder before the end of the year.

The project is being handled by State Company for Oil Projects (Scop), a subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, with Canada’s SNC Lavalin acting as its advisor and project manager.

The Oil Ministry has also set out its milestones for the project’s implementation, although these will be subject to the award date for the contract.

Basic designs are to be completed by October 2015, followed by a 34 month construction period. Commissioning and testing is expected to take 3 months, so the pipeline could begin operations by November 2018.

The scheme covers the construction and operation of a 42-inch, 1,000-kilometre pipeline connecting Haditha in the west of Iraq to Jordan’s Aqaba port, carrying as much as 1 million barrels a day (b/d) of crude oil.

The Oil Ministry plans to use a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) contract for the pipeline, the first of its kind in Iraq, under which a consortium will finance, construct, own and operate the pipeline with a 20-year concession period.

It will link up with a planned 2.25 million b/d pipeline, which runs from the PS1-A pumping station in Basra to Haditha. This pipeline will be tendered by the Oil Ministry in 2014 on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis.

Further details of the Iraq-Jordan pipeline’s scope have also been revealed. Its main features include seven booster pumping stations along its length, which will be powered by fuel gas in a pipeline running in parallel to the main line. Approximately 38 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of fuel gas will be required.

Crude oil will be delivered to a new tank farm at Aqaba with a capacity of 7 million barrels before being discharged onto crude carriers. The project also includes a 150,000 b/d branch-line to the Zarqa refinery in Jordan.