At least five companies have been prequalified for the gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs) package, which is estimated to be worth $2,000 million. It will include the construction of crude inlet facilities to process about 1.32 million barrels of wet and sour crude and four GOSPs, each with capacity of 330,000 b/d and 400 million cubic feet a day (cf/d), as well as other facilities. The prequalifiers include Paris-based Technip, Italy's Snamprogetti, Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain and Chiyoda Corporation and JGC Corporation, both of Japan.

For the Khurais central gas facilities, at least five companies have been prequalified. They include Technip, Snamprogetti, Chiyoda, JGC and a team of the US' Foster Wheeler with South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company.

Valued also at $2,000 million, it will entail the construction of two processing trains to dehydrate 300 million cf/d of sour gas, three sulphur recovery trains, each with capacity of 183 tonnes a day, demethanisation facilities using propane refrigeration, a 1.8 million-barrel tank farm, four flares and two natural gas liquids (NGL) spheres capable of storing 70,000 barrels.

Prequalifiers for the estimated $750 million third package - offsites and utilities - include the Foster Wheeler/Hyundai E&C team, Snamprogetti, Technip and Italy-based Techint.

Aramco plans to tender all packages on a converted lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) basis, with a bid target price and fee. Tenders for the three packages are due to be issued for bid by early 2006. The most advanced is the offsite and utilities package, for which a job explanation meeting is scheduled to be held in Dhahran on 7 December. It will be followed by a site visit the next day.

The mega-oil development project will include several other packages.

About 15 companies expressed interest by mid-November for the three seawater/crude oil pipeline packages worth a total of at least $750 million. The contract involves the supply and installation of 840 kilometres of pipeline at Khurais and Ghawar to transport crude oil and seawater by June 2008. Aramco is due to issue a list of prequalifiers by mid-December, with a tender for the construction packages due to be issued in early 2006 (MEED 28:9:05).

Foster Wheeler, with its in-kingdom partner Sofcon, is the project management consultant (PMC) on all major elements of the programme, except the seawater/crude oil pipeline and injection facilities, which is being handled by a group of the US-based Jacobs Engineering, Canada's SNC Lavalinand Saudi Consulting Services (SaudConsult).

The Khurais development is the centrepiece of Aramco's investment programme to increase production capacity to 12.5 million b/d by 2009/10. The next major scheme is the expansion of the Shaybah onshore field, for which about 20 companies responded to an initial inquiry in mid-November for the two main construction packages (MEED 11:11:05).

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