State-owned Saudi Aramco has received engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids for the second phase of its shale gas development in the north of Saudi Arabia, according to sources familiar with the project.

Companies bidding for the package, known as System B, are understood to include Japan’s JGC Corporation, Indian group Larsen & Toubro and Canada-based SNC Lavalin.

Bids were submitted in late September and the contract could be awarded later this year, although it is unclear which company submitted the lowest-priced EPC proposal, sources said.

The project will expand on the System A phase of the project that was awarded to JGC during the third quarter of this year.

The System A tender had an initial capacity of 50 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas. However, a Reuters report citing industry sources claims this has been increased to 66 million cf/d.

With System B Aramco will establish the capacity to produce 200 million cf/d of gas in Turaif to supply a power plant at the nearby Waad al-Shamal phosphate mining development.

The gas from System B will be sent to the industrial phophates city through a 70-kilometre pipeline. Industrial support facilities will also be constructed.

All the surface facilities are also expected to be skid-mounted, meaning they can be transferred elsewhere when the reservoirs have depleted.