UAE-based Zakum Development Company (Zadco) has extended the deadline for commercial bids on the onshore section of its Upper Zakum early production facilities.

Companies were asked to submit commercial proposals for the estimated $4bn engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by late June, but this has now been pushed back to late July or early August, according to contractors involved. The contract is not expected to be awarded until the end of 2012.

The scheme, known as EPC 2, involves the construction of processing trains, pipelines and other facilities on artificial islands off the coast of Abu Dhabi.

Companies submitted technical bids for the scheme in early May, including South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, US-based McDermott, UK-based Petrofac, Italy’s Saipem and Singapore’s Swiber Holdings, along with a joint bid of Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and French contractor Technip.

The estimated $800m ‘EPC 1’ contract for the offshore section of the early production facilities is expected to be awarded to a consortium of local group National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and France’s Technip later this week, according to sources close to the bidding process