Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) hopes to appoint an engineering contractor to oversee the first two phases of its carbon dioxide pipeline network by June, sources close to the project tell MEED.

Masdar’s carbon management unit wants to tender an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) deal before the end of March. This will be followed by an award before the end of the second quarter, according to an engineering executive involved in talks with the company.

The winning bidder will complete detailed engineering design work for the first two phases of the network, order the necessary materials and equipment, and manage the construction of the pipelines.

The first phase covers 190 kilometres of high-pressure pipelines, ranging in diameter from 8 to 14 inches. The second phase will see the same gauge of pipeline used over a 230km path.

Once the design work is complete, the contractor and Masdar will tender a construction deal for the first phase. Executives close to the project say this contract is likely to be put out to bid before the end of 2010.

A tender for the second phase will follow in early 2011.

The EPCM model is being used as most pipeline construction companies do not have in-house design units, says the business development manager for one pipeline specialist working in the emirate.

“This way they know who is designing it, and they can move quickly because the same contractor is managing the process all the way to completion,” he says.

The pipelines are part of a major Abu Dhabi-wide carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme. Masdar wants to capture 5 million tonnes a year (t/y) of emissions by 2014 from major industrial manufacturers, before selling the carbon dioxide to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Adnoc), the emirate’s state oil and gas company.

Adnoc will inject the carbon dioxide into its oil and gas fields to maintain reservoir pressure. This is to keep output constant or even increase it.

Masdar plans to tender a construction deal on its first carbon capture project, at the Emirates Aluminium steel rolling plant at Mussafah, by the end of 2010 (MEED 19:1:09).