State-upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has delayed the bid deadline for an estimated $100m deal to build high-pressure pipelines in the north of Kuwait for a second time.

Engineering and construction firms will now submit proposals on 14 April instead 20 March. The latest delay to the scheme follows a decision to put back the original bid deadline from 21 February, which was announced when it was first launched in January. No reasons were given for the delays.

The planned pipelines will connect the Jurassic wells in the North Kuwait area to manifolds and gathering centres, where the crude oil will be processed. Thirteen local and international firms have been prequalified to bid.

Kuwait hopes to develop its northern oil fields, which hold an estimated 13 billion barrels of heavy crude oil reserves, lifting production to 4 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2020.

Separately, state refiner, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has also extended the bid date for the construction of a new acid gas exhaust treatment unit at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, 50 kilometres from Kuwait City. Proposals will now to be submitted on 3 April, instead of 20 March.