Abu Dhabi Oil Company (Adoc), a Japanese-owned offshore operator, has received commercial bids from three companies vying for a project to develop the Hail oil field.

Prices for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender were submitted on 18 May, according to sources familiar with the project.

Companies competing for the contract – estimated to be worth between $200m and $400m – include India’s Essar, Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and Spanish group Tecnicas Reunidas.

Adoc is likely to award the contract to the company submitting the lowest-priced EPC bid. It is currently unclear which group is the frontrunner.

The Hail offshore oil field is located adjacent to Adoc’s existing operating fields Mubarraz, Umm al-Anber and Neewat al-Ghalan.

Maximum production from the undeveloped reservoirs at Hail is expected to be at similar volumes to Adoc’s current producing fields.

The scope of the project includes the installation of production manifolds on a new artificial island, including wellheads, production/test manifolds and utilities.

France’s Technip was appointed to carry out the front-end engineering and design (feed) study on the project, which was completed in late 2014, according to a source familiar with the project.

Adoc is Abu Dhabi’s largest oil producer which is not majority-owned by state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). It is estimated to produce about 24,000 barrels a day (b/d).

Adoc was awarded a contract in 2011 to develop the Hail field’s oil potential, adding it to the 30-year concession agreement for the three existing fields from the end of 2012.

Adoc is 64.2 per cent owned by Japanese oil refinery Cosmo and 31.1 per cent owned by Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration with the remainder owned by two Japanese electricity companies, according to the Adoc website.