The first contracts will cover the north and the second will be for the south and west oil production facilities. KOC has the option to award the contracts separately or to one company. A pre-tender meeting of prospective bidders is scheduled to be held on 15 October.

At present, the US' Parsons Engineering Corporation is providing PMC services for all KOC projects, under an estimated $45 million-50 million contract awarded in late 2001. The contract is due to expire on 13 June (MEED 30:11:01).

State-owned KOC is responsible for the exploration and production of crude oil and its export through terminals. It operates five major fields in the north and a similar number in south and west Kuwait with a total production capacity of about 2.4 million barrels a day (b/d).

KOC plans several major projects. These include:

increasing oil production capacity to 4 million b/d by 2004 (Kuwait, MEED Special Report, 28:8:02, page 25);

the construction of a 11.4 million-barrel oil storage and export facility at Ahmadi, to be built at an estimated cost of KD 270 million ($880 million - MEED 4:10:02);

the installation of new effluent water disposal plants at Maqwa and Burgan in south and west Kuwait (MEED 26:7:02);

the construction of a new gathering centre (GC) 24 with capacity of at least 200,000 b/d to be built in the north (MEED 12:7:02); and

the construction of a new booster station and GC 15 at the Rawdhatain field in the north (MEED 17:5:02).