China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) has issued a tender for the construction of new oil and gas pipelines at the Missan oil field in southeast Iraq.

Bids are due on 24 December for the deal, which was tendered on 19 November.

The contract covers the construction of new trunklines to replace the existing transport infrastructure, whose condition is not suitable for the field’s future production requirements.

The first phase of work includes more than 200 kilometres (km) of new trunklines between the BUS-3, BUS-2, BUT and Fauki junction. The pipelines range from 12-22 inches in diameter.

CNOOC leads a consortium developing the Missan oil field complex and is planning to build an export pipeline from the field, as well as trunklines from its production facilities to a central processing facility (CPF).

The firm issued a tender is August for the construction of a 450,000 barrel-a-day (b/d), 32-inch pipeline, which will run about 53km from the pumping station at the Buzurgan terminal to a pigging station at the nearby Halfaya oil field. This will connect with a 42-inch export pipeline running 272km to storage facilities at Al-Fao.

The Missan oil field complex includes three producing fields, Abu Ghraib; Buzurgan; and Fakka, along the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq. CNOOC plans to raise production capacity to 450,000 b/d in two phases by 2017. The first phase covers the rehabilitation of existing facilities and early production units, increasing capacity to 245,000 b/d in 2014.