Two companies have emerged as frontrunners to win the main contract on Saudi Aramco’s Hasbah offshore gas field expansion, according to sources familiar with the project.

US-based Dynamic Industries and Italy’s Saipem were the two lowest engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bidders, and one of the two is likely to win the estimated $1.5bn deal, several sources told MEED. 

The kingdom’s state-owned oil and gas producer received four technical EPC proposals in November, and has since opened the bid prices.

The tender is part of the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) signed between Aramco and four groups last year.

The bidding companies are:

• Dynamic Industries (US)
• Larsen & Toubro (India) / Emas (Singapore)
• McDermott (US)
• Saipem (Italy)

The bids submitted by Dynamic Industries and Saipem are thought to be very close in terms of price, with McDermott the third-lowest bidder and Larsen & Toubro submitting the highest-value proposal.

Saipem is understood to be in a good position to win the deal after recently completing the offshore section of the $4.6bn Wasit gas programme for Aramco.

The Italian firm was awarded more than $2bn of work on Wasit to bring online the first production of non-associated gas from the offshore Hasbah and Arabiyah fields.

The new Hasbah scheme will expand the production capacity of the field by an additional 2 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d), which will be piped to the onshore under-development Fadhili gas plant.