Petrochina has issued a tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a new pilot gas facility at the Halfaya oil field in eastern Iraq.

The state-owned Chinese firm has set a deadline of 12 March for the submission of bids.

Petrochina plans to build five gas-lifting well head facilities and pipelines running from the Halfaya field’s central processing facility (CPF-1) to new well pads.

According to the tender, seven wells drilled at the field have shown oil accumulations in multiple Tertiary and Cretaceous reservoirs. The pilot facility will help the Chinese firm gain technical experience for gas lifting at the field.

The scope of works includes gas dehydration and utility facilities, gas-lifting pipelines and well-head facilities. The pilot facility will be commissioned by the middle of 2015.

Petrochina, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is leading the development of the 4.1-billion-barrel Halfaya oil field along with France’s Total, Malaysia’s Petronas and the local Missan Oil Company. The group plans to lift crude production to more than 500,000 barrels a day (b/d) by the end of 2017.