State-upstream operator, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has issued a tender for the construction of an effluent water treatment and injection plant to boost crude oil production from the north of the country.

Bids for the scheme, launched on 25 August are due to be submitted on 17 November. A preliminary meeting with the 14 prequalified contractors will be held on 18 September.

The 14 prequalifiers are:

• Aker Solutions (Norway)
• Chiyoda (Japan)
• Daelim (South Korea)
• Dodsal (Dubai-based)
• Foster Wheeler (US)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)/JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

The project aims to provide pressure support for the Sabriya and Raudhatain fields in the north of Kuwait by the end of 2017. It includes the construction of an injection facility with a capacity of 500,000 barrels a day (b/d) of water. Effluent water will be collected from four oil-gathering centres in the northern Kuwait area. After treatment, the water will be injected into 150 wells using approximately 250 kilometres of pipelines ranging from six to 30 inches in diameter. It also includes storage tanks and pumps.

The deal is the latest in a series of major water injection projects. In August 2011, Kuwait awarded South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction a $545m deal to build an effluent water collection, treatment and injection facility by the middle of 2014. The scheme aims to pump as much as 1 million b/d of water to the Wara oil formation to maintain pressure and production levels at Kuwait’s giant Burgan oil field in the southeast of the country.