The two packages recently issued for bid are the sealines and export pipeline. In each case, prequalifiers have been given until the end of April to submit technical bids, with commercial bids due back a month later. Awards are due in the summer, DEL says. The third offshore package, the platforms, is expected to go for tender in late March.

The sealines package calls for the laying of two 78-kilometre subsea pipelines with a diameter of 34-36 inches, which will transport the gas from the North field to the gas processing plant at Ras Laffan. The export pipeline package involves the laying of a 48-inch-diameter pipeline from the processing plant to the receiving terminal in the UAE, a distance of about 450 kilometres. Japan's Mitsui & Companyhas already been selected to supply the export pipeline (MEED 31:1:03). The platform package involves the installation of two complexes.

Four companies are prequalified to submit bids by mid-July for the onshore gas processing plant. Prospective bidders are: Paris-based Technip-Coflexip, with the US' Bechtel; JGC Corporationof Japan; Italy's Saipem, with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company; and Japan's Chiyoda Corporation, with Snamprogettiof Italy.

The Dolphin pipeline will transport 3,200 million cubic feet a day of dry gas. Project completion is set for 2006.