Kuwait is expected to start the prequalification process before the end of the year for two packages that form part of a broader scheme to process gas from its Jurassic gas fields, according to industry sources.

Expressions of interest (EoI) for the two packages were submitted by contractors before the end of May.

The scope of the two packages includes sour gas processing facilities and transmission infrastructure.

Both packages will be tendered using Kuwait’s early production facility (EPF) contract, rather than the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model.

Kuwait’s EPF contracts are similar to contracts that use the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, which allows the main contractor to recover costs by operating the facility before it is transferred to a public company.

These packages are being called Jurassic Production Facilities (JPF) by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

Contractors have not yet been informed of the exact size and scope of the packages, which are understood to be either a partial or full retender of KOC’s Jurassic Gas Facility Phase 1 megaproject.

Jurassic Gas Facility Phase 1 was tendered in September 2017, but then officially cancelled by KOC in a statement published in December.

The original project was estimated to be worth $3.6bn.

“It is not yet known if the two packages will include the whole scope of Jurassic Gas Facility Phase 1,” says one industry source.

“KOC may have scaled down its vision for this project, or it could be planning to execute some parts of the original project at a later date.”

The scope of Jurassic Gas Facility Phase 1 included a central processing facility (CPF), offsite facilities and a pipeline gathering system.

Under the original plans the CPF was due to have the capacity to process 590 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas, 220,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil and 1,200 tonnes a day of sulphur.

The scheme was being developed to meet Kuwait’s growing gas demand and its cancellation was seen as a setback to government plans to produce more than 4 billion cf/d of natural gas by 2030, primarily to meet power generation requirements.

Kuwait currently burns a large volume of oil products to meet its utility needs.

Prior to the cancellation of the tender, Jurassic Gas Facility Phase 1 was scheduled to be completed in 2021.