International offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have been invited to submit technical proposals in early January for a major new project to boost gas production from the giant North Field.

Bids had been expected earlier, but the operator, Qatargas, has now set a deadline of 7 January, sources close to the project said.

It was not immediately clear which companies have been invited to bid.

The project is separate to another main upstream project at the field, known as the North Field Sustainability Project, which will help maintain gas output. The project involves the fabrication and installation of several new wellhead platforms, offshore jackets and drilling decks, along with other facilities in the southern portion of the field.

These will help maintain gas output from the field as Qatar prepares for its first major gas expansion in years. An extensive drilling campaign is planned for next year. Bids for the sustainability scheme were submitted by at least four contractors in late October.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) has invited bids for contracts to build 70-100 new rigs and equipment to produce gas from the North Field to supply the expansion. No final budget has been announced for the project.

The expansion plans were announced after QP ended a 12-year moratorium on new gas projects while it assessed the stability of the North Field.

QP is the largest shareholder in Qatargas. QP chief executive Saad al-Kaabi announced in September that it would add a fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) train to its expansion programme, in a bid to raise export capacity to 110 million tonnes a year (t/y).

Qatar is already the world’s largest LNG producer with a capacity of 77 million t/y.

In early November, Al-Kaabi was promoted to minister of energy affairs.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) of the new LNG trains is expected to be completed by Japanese engineers Chiyoda by next March.