Under the terms of the contract, Fluor will provide KOC with front-end engineering and design and project management services for its future projects and will second personnel to work at KOC’s Ahmadi offices.

Fluor was one of the three bidders for the in-house three management contracts last year with an original offer of KD121m ($432m). The lowest offer of KD87m ($311m) came from Australia’s WorleyParsons, which signed its contract in October (MEED 19:10:07).

The highest bid, totalling KD 137 million ($489 million), was submitted by Amec. It is expected to sign the third contract with KOC soon, although like Fluor’s deal, it will be at a substantially lower price.

KOC has traditionally had two in-house management contractors, the last two being Amec and Fluor. The hiring of a third company is an acknowledgement of its large future project schedule.