State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is looking to tender a gathering centre project known as GC32 in the middle of next year, according to sources close to KOC.

“We are expecting the tender to be issued around the third quarter of 2016,” the source said.

The project is estimated to be worth about $1bn and will be built near Kuwait’s giant Burgan field.

UK-based consultancy Amec Foster Wheeler completed front-end engineering and design (feed) work for Gathering Centre 32 in December 2014, and the scheme was initially expected to be tendered in early 2015.

It is not known why the project has seen delays over 2015.

Kuwait’s oil fields are currently connected to 26 gathering centres, which serve as a collection location for crude produced at several wells connected by flow lines, providing initial treatment through the separation of associated gas and removing salt.

Three additional gathering centres are currently in the early stages of execution, after contracts with a total value of $2.3bn were awarded in July 2014. These gathering centres are known as GC29, GC30 and GC31.

The contracts for these facilities were awarded to the UK’s Petrofac, India’s Larsen & Toubro and the UAE’s Dodsal Group, respectively.

Another KOC project, a pipeline known as Trunkline Five (TL5), is expected to be tendered around the same time as GC32.