The respondents to the initial inquiry were: Paris-based Technip,with Japan's JGC Corporation; an Italian team of Saipem and Snamprogetti; UAE-based Petrofac; Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, Daelim Industrial Company, Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company, GS Engineering & Construction and Samsung Engineering Company, all of South Korea; and Toyo Engineering Corporation and Chiyoda Corporation, bothof Japan.

The gas treatment plant EPC tender is due to be issued in late November, with technical bids expected to be submitted in March. Commercial offers are due to be returned by May.

The midstream phase of the project will also involve the installation of a gas pipeline from offshore South Pars 11 to the proposed treatment plant at Assaluyeh. The pipeline works is expected to be tendered separately. The front-end engineering and design (FEED) package for the midstream and upstream phases has been carried out by France's Doris Engineering.

The original Pars LNG consortium comprises National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), France's Totaland Malaysia's Petronas, which has withdrawn its shareholding. The companies have signed a framework agreement for both the LNG and upstream elements of the project last December. NIGEC is a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

The greenfield LNG project will centre on the construction of two trains, each with capacity of 5 million tonnes a year. The two units are to be built consecutively, with a period of one-two years between the first and second trains. Technip is carrying out the FEED for the liquefaction plant, which is due to be completed in early November.