Dolphin Energy has extended the technical bid submission date for a project to connect its natural gas pipeline network to the UAE emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah.

The deadline for Northern Emirates project revived in 2015 has been moved to May 30.

The main pipeline, which was commissioned in 2007 imports gas to Abu Dhabi from Qatar and distributes the fuel to Dubai, Al-Ain as well as Fujairah.

The new pipeline will connect to an existing pipeline in the north of Al Ain and will run for 70km through desert areas of Sharjah and will be joined to a plant operated by the emirate’s national oil company.

Companies pre-qualified to bid on the project are the following:

• Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC; Lebanon)
• Dodsal (UAE)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Punj Lloyd (India)
• Saipem (Italy)

Austria’s ILF Consulting Engineers was awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the project, for which the main contract has been delayed by two years.

The Dolphin project transports gas from Qatar’s massive North Field to the UAE and Oman through a subsea pipeline, making this gas network one of the largest in the region.

The UAE receives around 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas a day (cf/d) through this network, while Oman gets approximately 200 million cf/d.

Dolphin Energy is owned by Abu Dhabi state investment firm Mubadala, US’ Occidental Petroleum as well as France’s Total.

Qatar lifted its moratorium on development of the North Field - the world’s largest - last month. While state producer Qatar Petroleum has increased the supply of ethane to the domestic petrochemical industry, it has not made any announcement regarding re-negotiating contracts with existing gas-importing neighbours.