Saudi Aramco is preparing to tender a gas oil separation plant (Gosp) for its Marjan field development project, according to sources that have been briefed by Aramco officials.

Under current plans the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is expected to be worth $4-5bn.

The US engineering company Worley Parsons is currently working on the package’s front end engineering design (feed). The US firm was awarded the feed contract for the offshore oil and gas facilities portion and the onshore upstream and downstream pipelines portion the Marjan Oil Field Development Program in July last year.

In September last year, MEED reported that the Marjan field had been highlighted to contractors by Aramco as a project that it wanted to make rapid progress on.

The Gosp is expected to have a capacity of 300,000 barrel-a-day (b/d).

After processing the residual heavy crude will be blended with the Safaniya oil and shipped to the refinery at Ras Tanura.

The Marjan Oil Field Development Program also includes offshore platforms, pipelines, a gas processing plant and cogeneration facility, and modifications to an existing facility to add natural gas liquids fractionation capacity.

The entire project is expected to be completed by 2022.