The main element of the contract, valued at about $60 million, covers the construction of a processing plant and associated facilities with capacity to handle 80 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas from the Safah field. In addition, Dodsal will carry out the installation of gathering and compression equipment for wet gas transport in the Safah west and Safah satellite stations; expansion of existing facilities and installation of gathering compression units at Wadi Latham and Al-Barakah. Other elements of the project include the installation of metering facilities, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and electrical and instrumentation systems.

The award marks the final element of the project to supply the government with 130 million cf/d of gas from the Safah field starting from mid-2004. The Oman Construction Company (TOCO)was awarded in late April the $16 million EPC contract to install three flowlines with a combined length of 167 kilometres to tie Safah into the sultanate's gas network.

Occidental is the operator of block 9 with its partner Mitsui & Companyof Japan. Gas from the field will assist Oman in fulfilling its agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energyto supply the UAE network with 135 million cf/d of gas until 2006/07 (Oman, MEED Special Report, 2:5:03, pages 25-26).