The project will involve the installation of gas-gathering facilities on Sirri Island. These will consist of a gas liquefaction unit, a dehydration unit and a desulphurisation unit. The plant will have capacity to process 140 million cubic feet a day of gas and produce 30,000 barrels a day of NGL condensates. The lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) contract will involve every phase of the project from basic engineering to commissioning. The contract will have a duration of 42 months.

There were two other bidders for the project, one of which was disqualified on technical grounds. The other was a local consortium comprising Sazeh Consultants, Jahanpars and Kayson Group. It entered the tender after the others had bid $300 million for the project.

OIEC, which competed for the project alone, has recently completed two other gas-gathering stations for NIOC.

The client is Iran Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), a wholly owned subsidiary of NIOC. The project is not related to the Sirri oil field enhancement programme being carried out on a buyback basis by France's Total.

The project is a smaller version of the Kharg Island gas-gathering project, for which IOOC is now in negotiations with two consortia led by Japan's JGC Corporation and Sharjah-based Petrofac International. An award is expected towards the end of October.