Fourteen contractors have submitted offers to build an estimated $200m gas plant near the Zauliyah field in west-central Oman, according to a source close to the bidding process.

Project owner Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) received bids on the Zauliyah Gas Plant project on 19 May after the bid deadline was delayed three times from 4 April. The engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract is expected to be awarded within six weeks.

The plant will have the capacity to process 1.2 million cubic metres a day of raw gas from PDO’s Zauliyah field.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, PDO awarded local group Al-Hassan Engineering Company the EPC a contract to develop the gas compression depletion facilities at the Zauliyah operations.