Kuwait and Saudi Arabia plan $1.5bn Dorra field tender

26 July 2011

Contractors to bid on controversial Neutral Zone gas field development by early 2012

Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) is set to release the $1.5bn-plus engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the offshore non-associated Dorra gas field in late 2011 or early 2012.

Australia’s WorleyParsons is currently working on some form of front-end engineering and design for the project and a bid document is expected to be ready by the end of the year and released shortly afterwards.

“There has been no tender yet, but there is already a lot of interest in this project as it is very similar in size and scope to the offshore packages at the Wasit gas development project [in Saudi Arabia],” a source familiar with the project says.

KJO has already held a meeting in London with a number of interested contractors to discuss the Dorra project.

The contractors expected to be prequalified to bid include:

  • J Ray McDermott (US)
  • Leighton Offshore (Australia)
  • National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
  • Saipem (Italy)
  • Swiber (Singapore)

The full details have yet to be formulated, but the scope of works is expected to include the EPC of six offshore platforms with interconnecting flowlines, gas gathering equipment, 200 kilometres of 30” pipe and 100km of subsea cables.

The Dorra field lies in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which is why it comes under the jurisdiction of KJO.

KJO is jointly run by Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Gulf Operations Company. The companies are subsidiaries of their respective state national oil companies, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and Saudi Aramco.

The news about the Dorra field indicates that some agreement has been made between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran as to who has the rights to exploit the gas reserves. Iran and Kuwait have claimed ownership in the past (MEED 26:2:10).

When the field is completed, the gas will be used by Kuwait and will contribute to the country’s plans to produce over 1 billion standard cubic feet-a-day of non-associated gas by 2015.

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