Prospective bidders on the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) strategic gas pipeline project are preparing to attend site visits on 19 and 20 September, according to industry sources.

A pre-tender meeting is also due to take place on 18 September.

The strategic gas pipeline will transport gas from the north of the country to the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery. There has been significant interest in the project from contractors.

 Prequalified companies include:

• Saipem (Italy)
• SK E&C (South Korea)
• Daelim (South Korea)
• Daewoo E&C (South Korea)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• MW Kellogg (UK)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• SNC Lavalin (Canada)
• National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)

 State-owned upstream operator KOC issue the invitation to bid (ITB) for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for project earlier this month.

The project is estimated to be worth $200m and the current bid submission deadline is 6 November.

 Along with construction of the 48 inches-wide, 150 kilometre-long pipeline, the scope of work also includes installation of compressor station and control rooms.

Issue of the ITB for the project has been delayed considerably, as the tender was initially expected to be issued in November last year.

 The UK’s Wood Group has done the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the project, and France’s Technip FMC is the project management consultant.