Engineering contractors have named South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction as the lowest bidder on a $690m pipeline contract in Abu Dhabi.

The firm was one of seven bidders who submitted commercial bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on 25 August.

The client on the project, Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) plans to send a letter of intent to the consortium by the end of 26 August, sources close to the scheme say.

GS’ bid, thought to be worth around $640-690m, beat off a price of around $700 from Paris-based Technip and China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Company (CPECC), followed by Italy’s Saipem , which bid $750-790m, sources say.

Other bidders included India’s Dodsal, which bid around $800m, the local Al-Jaber Energy with a price of $881m, a consortium of South Korea’s Samsung Engineering & Construction Corporation with Lebanon’s Construction & Trading (Cat) which bid $884m and a $1,050 price from South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction and the local National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

The contract covers the construction of more than 900 kilometres (km) of pipelines, ranging from 10 to 28 inches in size. The main part of the deal covers a 230km pipeline linking the Abu Dhabi refinery with Takreer’s Ruwais refinery.

Other pipelines will link Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, a storage depot at Al-Ain, the Mussafah distribution depot and Abu Dhabi International airport. The contract also covers the construction of around 24 oil storage tanks across the emirate. The winning firm will also build a network of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras along the route of the pipeline.