Prequalifiers include the local National Petroleum Construction Company, the German office of Paris-based Technip-Coflexip, NKK Corporation of Japan, South Korea's Samsung Engineering Corporation and Snamprogetti and Saipem, both of Italy. A tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is due to be issued by early May.

Estimated to be worth $80 million-90 million, the contract will include the supply and installation of a 120-kilometre pipeline and related civil works. The facilities will take about 15 months to complete. The proposed pipeline will be designed to carry liquid sulphur from Habshan to Ruwais. At present, sulphur produced from phases 1-2 of the onshore gas development scheme and other projects are transported by truck.

A conceptual study for the pipeline was carried out by the US' Bechtel; the front-end engineering and design (FEED) package was completed by The Parsons Corporation, also of the US. The project management consultant is US-based VECO; the client is Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Company (Gasco).