Russia’s Lukoil, the developer of Iraq’s West Qurna phase 2 oil field, has set a 30 March deadline for bidding firms to submit commercial proposals for early production facilities.

Lukoil issued four tenders for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deals in September as part of its development of the 12.9 billion-barrel field, covering oil gathering systems, processing facilities and water supply system, along with an oil export pipeline, storage facilities, a power station and associated gas processing plant.

Technical bids for the associated gas process plant and power station were submitted on 30 January, after technical proposals were handed in on 4 December. Italy’s Saipem, the UK’s Petrofac, France’s Technip and Japan’s JGC are among the firms invited to submit bids, according to a source close to the project.

Lukoil and its partner, Norway’s Statoil, were awarded a 20-year technical service contract for the field in Iraq’s second oil field licensing round in December 2009 (MEED 2:2:10)..

Lukoil holds a 56.25 per cent operator stake in the contract, which could be extended for another five years. Norway’s Statoil takes a 18.75 per cent stake, while two state-owned companies, South Oil Company and North Oil Company share the remaining 25 per cent

The consortium agreed in February 2010 to a plateau production target of 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d) and a remuneration fee of $1.15 a barrel for each additional barrel from initial production. Lukoil is expected to start drilling operations during 2011 and aims to produce 120,000 b/d by the end of 2012 and 500,000 b/d by 2014.

The company has already awarded a seismic survey deal to Dubai-based Terraseis and a land mine-clearing contract the UK’s to G4S Risk Management.