Malaysia’s Petronas has tendered a deal for the construction of a major gas-fired power plant at the Gharraf oil field in the south of Iraq.

The 120MW captive power plant is intended to provide power for use in upstream activities at the field by the end of 2014, a source close to the project tells MEED. Any surplus will be sold to the Iraqi national grid.

The tender was released to a number of prequalified companies in early December, and commercial bids are expected to be submitted in January, although contractor sources say it is likely to be extended.

Petronas has opted to tender the power plant on a design, build and operate basis.  The plant will use a simple open-cycle gas turbine and electricity produced will be sent back to upstream oil production facilities. The project scope include a 10-kilometre, 132kV transmission to take surplus electricity produced to the national grid at the Al-Rafaie substation, which will also require upgrades of its switchgears. Construction and commissioning is expected to take 22 months. The winning bidder will operate the plant for a period of 10 years.

In October, Petronas began prequalifying engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms for a deal to build an associated gas treatment facility, which will supply feedstock for the power plant. The gas plant will include two trains, processing 23 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas, but the tender is yet to be released.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) for the project, known as the Gharraf gas-to-power (GTP) scheme, has been carried out by the US’ Weatherford International. A second phase of development at the field, after 2015 will add another low pressure gas treatment unit to produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate.

The 1 billion-barrel Gharraf field, located in the Dhi-Qar governate in southern Iraq, was awarded to Petronas and Japan’s Japex as part of Iraq’s second oil field licensing round in December 2009.