Abu Dhabi has suspended the tender on the design of a major offshore project to develop the Dalma oil and gas field as further studies are needed to be carried out, leading to delays in the scheme.

Last year Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) invited engineering firms to submit bids on the front-end engineering & design (feed) tender with the initial deadline set in August 2016 but no contract was awarded.

The project aims to build the first platforms and pipelines at the Dalma field, which is located in the west of Abu Dhabi’s offshore territory between Dalma Island and the maritime border with Qatar.

France’s Technip, which carried out the feasibility study, has been called to carry out additional conceptual design work before a new deadline is set for feed bids.

Companies invited to bid for the feed tender in 2016 are:

• Amec Foster Wheeler (UK)
• Fluor (US)
• KBR (US)
• Technip-Genesis (France)
• WorleyParsons (Australia)

The suspension of the feed tender has delayed the project timeline by at least six months.

Adnoc plans to build oil lines, but the priority will be to install the gas line first. According to sources, the planned capacity for the development is 350 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas, which would make it a significant contributor to the UAE’s overall gas supply.