India’s Punj Lloyd has been awarded its first offshore contract in the Middle East with a $57.8m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project for Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO).

Punj Lloyd will design, build and install a new 20-inch crude transmission line, along with 40-kilometres of rigid submarine pipelines to replace the existing transmission line. The new line will be designed for pigging to allow the pipeline’s internal condition to be monitored. It also includes modification work at the Ratawi gathering station. The project is scheduled for commissioning in September 2014.

KJO is responsible for oil operations in the Divided Zone, an area where the border is not properly defined. The company is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Company (AGOC) and the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC).

The firm operates two major offshore fields, Khafji and Hout, which have a joint production capacity of 280,000 barrels a day (b/d), just under half of the Divided Zone’s total capacity of 580,000 b/d.