Emirates LNG is planning to retender the main contract on its liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification and storage terminal in Fujairah next year, after deciding to change the scope, according to several sources familiar with the project.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal was initially tendered in early 2013 and bids were submitted over the summer.

Market sources told MEED in July that South Korea’s Samsung Engineering had emerged as the lowest bidder for the contract ahead of bids by other international companies including fellow South Korean group Samsung C&T and Italy’s Saipem and Techint.

However, firms are now expected to be invited to bid on a new tender in 2014, after being told by the client that the scheme will be “reconfigured”.

“There is going to be a different scope and it will be retendered next year,” says a source close to the bidding process.

Emirates LNG, a joint venture of state-owned Abu Dhabi groups Mubadala Petroleum and International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic), will build the LNG terminal project in two stages, with a proposed final capacity of 9 million tonnes a year (t/y) of LNG.

The first phase will cover floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) with annual capacity of 4.5 million t/y, or about 600 million cubic feet a day (cf/d). Work is expected to start in 2015, with phase 2, which involves a floating storage terminal with onshore vaporisation capacity, to follow a year later.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) phase was carried out by France’s Technip. The scheme’s feasibility study was completed by US-based Poten & Partners.

Excelerate Energy had been awarded the contract to supply the LNG technology for the project, according to a Reuters report citing industry sources. The US-based company won the deal ahead of Bermuda-registered Golar LNG.

Emirates LNG’s main customers are expected to be the Fujairah 1 and 2 integrated water and power plants (IWPPs), majority-owned by Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea).

After the second phase is completed, the UAE will have an LNG import capacity of 12 million t/y, with import facilities already installed in Jebel Ali in Dubai. The country’s current capacity to export LNG is 8 million t/y.