State-owned Sharjah National Oil Company (SNOC) has set 20 August as the deadline for submission of commercial bids for the main contract to build the emirate’s first-ever floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

SNOC is developing the project in a joint venture (JV) with German energy firm Uniper.

“The commercial bids have not been submitted yet. The deadline is 20 August,” a source said.

The value of the main contract is estimated to be $800m.

This is at least the third occasion when the project’s bid submission date has been postponed, with the previous deadlines being 23 July and 29 June.

The companies that have been prequalified to bid include:

• National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC, UAE)
• Sapura Energy (Malaysia)
• STFA Group (Turkey)
• Archirodon (Greece)
• Royal Boskalis Westminster (The Netherlands).

SNOC is building the project off the emirate’s Hamriyah port.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) work on the project is being done by the JV partners.