Companies have been asked to submit technical bids in July for phase two of the Qusahwira oil field development in Abu Dhabi, according to sources familiar with the project.

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (Adco) tendered the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in February, but has pushed back the deadline for technical proposals several times.

Bids are now expected to be submitted after Ramadan towards the end of July.

Qusahwira field development phase two is part of Adco’s programme to increase the capacity of its onshore South East Asset (SEA) fields, which also includes projects at the Sahil and Mender fields.

The Qusahwira field expansion will add 25,000 barrels a day (b/d) of new capacity at the field located 260 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi city.

Canada’s SNC Lavalin carried out the front-end engineering and design (feed) study for the project at its operations in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Toronto.

Several companies are prequalified to bid for the EPC tender for Qusahwira phase two, which is estimated to be worth between $500m and $700m, according an industry source.

Contractors understood to be prequalified to bid include:

• Chiyoda-CCC Engineering (UAE)
• Daewoo E&C (South Korea)
• Dodsal (UAE)
• Intecsa Industrial (Spain)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Saipem (Italy)
• SK E&C (South Korea)
• Tecnimont (Italy)

In May, China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) was awarded a $330m EPC deal to develop the Mender field.

Adco is also planning a phase 2 expansion of the Sahil field, which is expected to be the largest of the three field developments.

US-based CH2M Hill won the project management consultancy (PMC) contract to oversee the development of the three SEA fields, MEED revealed in May 2014.