Iraq’s State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) has released a tender for the supply of tank accessories for its new storage facility at Ammara in the east of the country.

The tender covers supplies of tank accessories, such as manhole hinges, platforms and covers for three 10,000-cubic metre tanks, each with a diameter of 42 metres and height of 8 metres. It will store almost 200,000 barrels. Another six tanks are also planned.

SCOP has set a condition that the materials must come from the US, Japan, UK, Western Europe, South Korea or Canada. SCOP is a subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, responsible for design and execution of oil projects including refineries, oil depots, pipelines, storage tanks and exporting oil terminals.

Bids are due to be submitted on 9 July. Tender documents are available from SCOP for a fee of ID250,000 ($215).

The $150m storage depot will add almost 600,000 barrels of storage capacity for crude oil, heavy fuel oil, diesel and kerosene.

Civil works began in early 2012 and the new depot is expected to be completed in mid-2014. The depot will store refined produced at a small refinery near the Buzurgan oil field which can process between 20,000 and 30,000 barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil.

The field is part of the Missan oil field complex, which is being developed by a consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Sinochem. The consortium is planning to increase production to 275,000 b/d from about 100,000 b/d.

The Buzurgan field is currently producing about 40,000 b/d. The CNOOC-led consortium also plans to build a pipeline, which would connect the Burzagan field to the nearby Halfaya field and then onto the southern port of Al-Fao for export.

The new depot will provide the Missan province with its own facilities for fuel storage, rather than relying on supplies from the Shuaiba depot in Basra.