The Saudi Arabian/Kuwaiti Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) has awarded Japan’s JGC Corporation the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for water treatment plant in the Divided Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

A source familiar with the project tells MEED that JGC had been the frontrunner for the contract after submitting the lowest bid of around $155m for the project.

“JGC has won the contact,” a source says. “The deal is done and work will start before the end of 2010.”

The other bidders for the contract include the South Korean firms Daelim Corporation and Hyundai Heavy Industries along with Techint of Italy and Switzerland’s ABB Lummus.

Another EPC contract tendered at a similar time covers the offshore element of the  Al-Khafji field. The contract involves the installation of new power cables, storage tanks, well facilities and associated infrastructure.

Both schemes are part of KJ O’s plans to boost overall oil production in the Divided Zone from an estimated 550,000 barrels-a-day (b/d) currently to 900,000 b/d by 2030.

On September 14 MEED reported that KJO would be retendering a five-year project management contract for the Divided Zone (MEED 14:9:10).

KJO is jointly owned by state-oil and gas firms Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and Aramco Gulf Operations Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco.