Oman’s Galfar Engineering is among the contractors bidding to develop a gas pipeline at the Barik field in Al-Wusta governorate in the centre of the sultanate.

Contractors submitted engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids on 25 July to build a 157 kilometre, 20-inch carbon steel pipeline for operator Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).

The pipeline will run in a loop from Barik to several block valve stations (BVS). The EPC contract, estimated to be worth up to $50m, is expected to be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2012 and carried out over 2.5 years.

Meanwhile, Oman Gas Company (OGC) has extended the deadline for bids on a gas loopline project, which will supply the area around Salalah in the south of the sultanate.

OGC has asked companies to submit EPC proposals for the estimated $40m project by 27 August, pushing the deadline back from 27 July.

The estimated $40m project covers the construction of a 32-inch wide, 85-kilometre pipeline to meet increasing demand for gas in Dhofar governorate. The EPC contract is expected to be awarded in November 2012 and completed by the end of 2014.