Companies are preparing to submit engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids for a project to expand facilities at the Bul Hanine offshore oil field in Qatar.

Project owner Qatar Petroleum (QP) has set a deadline of 11 June for contractors to submit bids for the estimated $500m-$600m Bul Hanine Redevelopment Phase 1B package.

At least six companies have been prequalified to bid for the package. They include:

• China Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (COOEC; China)
• McDermott (US)
• National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC; UAE)
• Saipem (Italy)
• SapuraKencana (Malaysia)
• Technip (France)

The Bul Hanine redevelopment project is expected to more than double the field’s current production rate from 40,000 to 95,000 barrels a day (b/d) and extend the life of the field by over 25 years.

The estimated $200m EPC contract for Phase 1A was awarded to McDermott in the third quarter of 2015 as is expected to be completed this year.

The second phase of the Bul Hanine redevelopment, which is currently in the planning stage, will boost capacity to 95,000 b/d and include a gas plant with a capacity to process 930 million cubic feet a day (cf/d).

Upstream oil and gas projects in Qatar have been few and far-between in recent years but the recent lifting of a moratorium on new developments at the North field gas asset should lead to major opportunities of offshore contractors.

QP’s president and CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi announced on 3 April that assessments of the North Field have confirmed the potential for developing a new gas project with a capacity of about 2 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d), increasing the field’s capacity by about 10 per cent.