Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco) has delayed the deadlines for technical bids on two major offshore oil field development contracts.

The deadline for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) technical bids for the first package of the Umm al-Lulu full field development was initially set for 24 April, but has been delayed until mid-May, according to a source close to the contracting process.

Seven companies have prequalified for the estimated $500m project that will include the building of wellhead towers, pipelines and associated facilities.

The deadline for technical bids for the third package of the Satah al-Rasboot (Sarb) full field development has also been delayed from April to mid-May. The scope of the estimated $300m contract includes the construction of pipelines and platforms at the field. At least eight EPC contractors are prequalified to bid on the contract. It is unclear what has caused the delays.

May deadlines have also been set for technical bids for the second package of Umm al-Lulu and the fourth package of Sarb. Adma-Opco is planning to develop the Umm al-Lulu, Nasr and Sarb oil fields as part of the emirate’s plan to boost offshore production capacity to 1.75 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2020, from 1.1 million b/d currently.

US-based Fluor Corporation is handling the front-end engineering design (feed) stage of the project. Stone & Webster, also based in the US, won the project management consultancy (PMC) contract.

Adma-Opco is a joint venture of Adnoc, the UK’s BP, France’s Total, Japan’s Inpex and Japan Oil Development Company.