State oil company Saudi Aramco is evaluating proposals from two bidders for the planned build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) compounds project for its Master Gas (MGS) programme.

According to sources close to the programme, two bidding consortiums are competing for the BOOT contract, which will involve building six compounds to service the East-West pipeline system.

The total built-up area of the six compounds will be 700,000 square metres. Under the BOOT contract, the selected consortium will build the compounds over a period of 20 years, and operate them for 20 years under a lease agreement.

The bidding consortiums are:

• Lamar Holding (local) / Asyad Holding (local) / Azmeel Contracting (local)
• Masic (local) / Nesma & Partners (local)

According to sources close to the scheme, the Lamar Holding consortium has submitted the lowest price for the BOOT contract.

The Master Gas scheme is part of the kingdom’s programme to boost production of natural gas to meet the growing demand for power from industries and households.

The kingdom’s National Transformation Programme (NTP) has set a target for raising domestic gas production to 17.8 billion cf/d by 2020 and to 23 billion cf/d within the next decade, up from a current production rate of 12.5 billion cf/d.