Libya’s Mellita Oil & Gas has invited companies to prequalify for a contract to design a new offshore platform and upgrades to an onshore gas production complex in Libya.

Interested firms have been requested to submit prequalification documents by 14 October.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) contractor will provide engineering documents and a scope of work for the engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC) phase, as well as updated costs and times schedules to allow Mellitah Oil & Gas to make a final investment decision.

However, the appointed feed contractor will not be invited to tender for the subsequent execution phase of the project.

The project is divided into two segments; offshore and onshore. The offshore element covers basic and feed for natural gas and associated condensates production through a wellhead and production platform. These will be located at the Block NC-41 concession, about 75 kilometres off the coast of Libya in waters with depths of 93-145 metres.

The platform will include gas separation and dehydration facilities processing 160 million cubic feet a day (cf/d). Once processed, the dehydrated gas and partially stabilised condensate will be exported to the existing onshore Mellitah complex, in the northwest of Libya, through two dedicated subsea pipelines for final treatment.

The Mellitah complex currently treats gas and condensates from the offshore Sabratha platform. It consists of three trains for gas treatment and two condensate treatment trains with a total capacity of 695 million cf/d of gas, 31 barrels a day (b/d) of liquids and 450 tonnes a year (t/y) of solid sulphur.

The onshore portion of the project covers the upgrade of the Melittah complex, increasing production to 12 billion cubic metres a year (cm/y), through the addition of two new treatment trains.

Mellitah Oil & Gas is a joint venture of Italy’s Eni and state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC). The NC-41 concession includes the Bahr Essalam gas field, which is connected to the Mellitah complex by a 110km pipeline.