Saudi Aramco has set a deadline of 21 January for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders for its $800m Midyan non-associated gas processing project in the Western province of Saudi Arabia.

The initial plan was for bids to be submitted in mid-October, but delays have occurred after contractors asked for more time to submit bids. MEED reported in May that Aramco had awarded the US’ Mustang Engineering the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the scheme.

Contractors aiming to participate include:

• Chiyoda (Japan)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)  
• Petrofac (UK)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Technip (France)

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 output will be transported by pipeline to a power plant in the coastal town of Duba, 135 kilometres southwest of the field.

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.

“This is an interesting project in that even though it is onshore the scope of works is more similar to an offshore platform,” says an executive working in the Saudi Arabian oil and gas industry.

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.