India’s Larsen & Toubro has won a $250m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on the third phase of the Yibal depletion compression project in Oman.

The deal was awarded by state-backed oil producer Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), which aims to improve recovery at the Yibal-Natih gas reservoir in the company’s concession in the centre of the sultanate. Larsen & Toubro expects to complete the scheme in 39 months.

In a similar deal in August 2012, the Indian company won a $235m EPC contract for phase 2 of PDO’s Saih Rawl depletion compression project.

PDO has been installing depletion compression facilities as a way of maintaining the production capacities of gas fields as reservoir pressure declines over time.

The Yibal-Natih reservoir contains sweet gas, with recoverable reserves estimated at 90 per cent. It has been in production since 1972 and has undergone a series of expansions to accommodate increasing demand for gas, according to Larsen & Toubro.

PDO is a joint venture of the government of Oman (60 per cent interest), UK/Dutch Shell (34 per cent), France’s Total (4 per cent) and Portugal-based Partex (2 per cent).