The 15-month EPC contract will involve the installation of a 182-kilometre, 24-inch-diameter pipeline from Al-Ain to Qidfa and the construction of a pressure reducing station at Qidfa, the site of the power and desalination plant. VECO will assist Dodsal in the detailed engineering and design of the proposed pipeline.

The proposed pipeline will have an initial capacity of 170 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) with plans to increase to 360 million cf/d at a later date. Austria's ILF Consulting Engineers has carried out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work. The project management consultant is Halliburton Brown & Root, part of the US' Halliburton Group. The client is Dolphin Energy (DEL), which is expected to decide by September from where the gas for the pipeline will initially be sourced (see page 10).

The Fujairah power and desalination project is being implemented by Union Water & Electricity Company. Due to be commissioned by mid 2003, it will comprise a 100 million-gallon-a-day desalination unit and a 656-MW power station (MEED 28:9:01).