Saudi Aramco is on the verge of awarding India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Midyan non-associated gas processing project in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia.

The Indian contractor emerged as the lowest bidder in late March, but the state-owned oil giant has taken over a month to make a decision. The winning bid is believed to be just under $400m.

“There has been a slight delay, but now Aramco are ready to make an award,” says an oil and gas source based in Saudi Arabia. “This is a good win for L&T, the first they have won from Aramco in a while.”

L&T was not available for comment when contacted by MEED.

The project will involve the development of the non-associated onshore Midyan gas field to produce 75 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas and 4,500 barrels a day (b/d) of condensate for a 20-year period.

The scope of works will include the EPC of upstream and processing facilities for the Midyan field, as well as pipelines to transport the gas and condensate. An interesting facet of the project will be that most of the facilities will be skid-mounted. This means that they can be transported to other smaller gas fields after production from Midyan is completed, which is a first for the kingdom.

The project is expected to be completed in late 2015. The Midyan field has been developed by Aramco to alleviate the burning of crude oil for power generation in the northwest of the kingdom during the summer months. The area has several small non-associated gas fields that are also expected to be exploited to provide gas for power generation.