The Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti joint venture Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) is expected to retender a project management consultancy contract after receiving only one bid.

A contracting source tells MEED that the UK’s Amec, the incumbent contractor conducting project management services for KJO, was the only company to submit a bid for the five-year deal.

“We held initial talks and were interested in putting in a bid to KJO at the start of the tender process,” the contracting source says. “But in the end we decided not to participate. Out of 12 companies approached [by KJO] only Amec submitted a bid.”

The source could not confirm when the new tender would be issued by KJO.

The contract covers the provision of project management services on all of KJO’s major infrastructure projects in the Divided Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

KJO 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. The company has several projects designed to improve its production facilities in the area with two major contracts to upgrade facilities, an offshore contract and a water treatment contract, are due to be announced in September (MEED 10:6:10).

The company 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.