The four bidding groups are:

Hyundai Engineering & Construction and LG Engineering & Construction, both of South Korea, with the UK's Foster Wheeler Energyand the local Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Company (Isoico);

Chiyoda Corporation, Japan, with Daelim Engineering & Construction of South Korea and Industrial Development & Renovation Organisation (Idro)and Petropars, both local;

A local consortium involving Ghorb Khatamand Iran Marine Industries ( Sadra);

Technip, Paris-based, with Oil Industries & Engineering Company (OIEC)and Saaf Offshore, both local.

The client is Pars Oil & Gas Company, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

South Pars phases 15-16 will produce 50 million cubic metres a day of treated gas for domestic use, 1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for export, 80,000 barrels a day of condensates, also for export, and 1 million t/y of ethane for use in local petrochemical projects. The contract also calls for sulphur recovery of 800 tonnes a day (t/d) for export. Past South Pars projects have only had a sulphur recovery rate of 400 t/d.

The planned offshore facilities include two wellhead platforms and utilities, which will be tied to two appraisal and 24 development wells to be drilled by NIOC. Two 32-inch-diameter and two 4.5-inch-diameter subsea pipelines are to be laid with an approximate total length of 135 kilometres. A standalone gas treatment plant will be built onshore in the Tumbak area.

The project will be 85 per cent financed by buyers' credit, rather than on a contractor buyback basis. Some questions have been raised over the quality of condensates produced from earlier South Pars phases and the effect this has on competitive financing of the projects. Condensate from phases 2-3 is understood to be rich in mercaptan, which reduces the product's value (MEED 20:2:04; 12:12:03).