Oil giant Saudi Aramco is evaluating the bids for three tenders to carry out geophysical studies in the kingdom.

The seismic contract tenders were released in June and are among the largest onshore contracts ever submitted by the company (MEED 17:6:11).

“Bids have now gone for all three contracts and the survey companies are now waiting to hear from Aramco,” says a source familiar with the deals. “It is too early to call a frontrunner yet.”

Each contract will run for four years with the option to extend for a further two years. An announcement on the winning bidder is expected by the end of August.

The contracts will cover thousands of square kilometres of Saudi Arabia and run from the Empty Quarter in the south of the kingdom right up to the Iraq border in the north.

A number of established geophysical surveying companies have submitted bids for the work including:

• Arabian Geophysical & Surveying Company (Local/France)
• BGP Arabia (Local/Chinese)
• Saudi Geophysical (Local)
• Western Geophysical Company (US)

Saudi Aramco says it believes significant undiscovered onshore reserves still remain in Saudi Arabia and is investing heavily in exploration. Other frontier areas currently under survey include blocks in the Red Sea off the west coast of the kingdom.