Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is due to approve the budget for a project to overhaul and expand a gas booster station in southeast Kuwait before the end of the month.

KPC’s High Tender Committee will make the decision, according to industry sources.

Last month, MEED revealed that Australia’s WorleyParsons has completed the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the $270m project, which will add a third train to Booster Station 160.

The station was originally constructed with two identical single-stage compression trains delivering 249 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of sour gas from gathering centres 3, 4, 6, 7 and 21.

Contractors expect the main contract for the facility to be tendered in September 2018.

The project to add an extra train to Booster Station 160 is one of several projects in the pipeline aimed at strengthening Kuwait’s gas collection, transport and processing infrastructure.

Contractors are also preparing to bid on an overhaul of Booster Station 171. This project is estimated to be worth $300m and involves adding a gas sweetening facility to the booster station.

The facility will consist of two identical gas processing trains, each with a capacity of 60 million cf/d.

In January, KPC said the country is planning to invest $112bn in the oil and gas sector over the next five years.

It said Kuwait is aiming to increase non-associated natural gas production to 2.5 billion cf/d in 2040, from an expected 0.5 billion cf/d in April 2018 and 1 billion cf/d by 2023.