Qatar's state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) plans to tender an estimated $50m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its offshore Al-Shaheen oil field in mid-January.

The proposed work will help debottleneck throughput from Al-Shaheen by installing offshore platforms in a bid to optimise production from the asset, according to a source.

NOC, in which Qatar Petroleum (QP) and French energy major Total are 70:30 shareholders, received prequalification documents from contractors in December last year.

“[Main contract] bids for the EPC deal will be invited around the middle of the month,” the source said.

The following firms, among others, are understood to have submitted prequalification documents:

• Saipem (Italy)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• McDermott (USA)