The Moscow-based contractor is thought to have made the lowest offer for the design-and-build contract when bids were submitted in February.

The next closest offers were submitted by Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) and Italy's Snamprogetti and Saipem. Three of the other nine companies that had originally been prequalified for the project also submitted bids (MEED 22:2:08).

Stroytransgaz also had the lowest bid following submission of revised commercial bids when additional options to install more heaters were included in the scope of works.

An award on the contract is expected to be made by Dolphin Energy in the near future.

If Stroytransgaz wins the contract, it will be its first major deal in the UAE.

In 2007, the firm won the $1bn water conveyance system serving the Shuqaiq independent water and power project in Saudi Arabia. It has also won pipeline contracts for Saudi Aramco, but is not thought to have won any other work in the Gulf before now (MEED 11:5:07).

Stroytransgaz is not the only firm to recently enter the UAE pipeline sector. Last year, China Petroleum Engineering Construction Corporation won an engineering, procurement and construction contract from Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) to build the Habshan-Fujairah trans-emirates oil pipeline (MEED 07:9:07).

The entrants mean clients have options in a market that has increasingly faced smaller bidding lists and higher costs.

The Dolphin gas pipeline project involves the engineering and installation of a 240-kilometre-long, 48-inch-diameter gas pipeline between Taweelah in Abu Dhabi and Qidfa in Fujairah.

The pipe itself has been procured by the client from Germany's Salzgitter Mannesmann International in a deal worth more than $200m.

The gas, which originates in Qatar, will serve the Fujairah II independent water and power project at Qidfa (MEED 27:4:07).

Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy is providing 2 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas from Qatar via a sub-sea pipeline.

The main customers for the gas are Abu Dhabi Electricity & Water Authority (Adwea) and Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup).

Oman is also due to start receiving Dolphin gas this summer.

The other firms to submit bids for the design and build contract on the Dolphin pipeline in February were the local Al-Jaber Energy Services, Dubai-based Dodsal and Egypt's Petrojet.

In a separate deal, Dolphin has awarded a $19m contract to the local Al-Husam General Contracting Establishment to construct fencing along more than 100km of its 184km Al-Ain-Fujairah gas pipeline.

The fence is being built to improve safety and security along its supply route.