Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (Gasco) had to return bid bonds to contractors after Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Operations (Adco) rejected the original scope of the compressor for the Carbon Dioxide reinjection (CO2) project at Habshan.

MEED reported on 29 August that the bid bonds for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project had been returned (MEED 29:8:11).

Adco’s insistence on larger compressors has created a knock-on effect that will significantly alter the scope of the project. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have had to bin the technical bids they submitted and are now waiting for a retender.

“The characteristic of the compressor was not up to Adco’s standard, they pretend to have a bigger flow and head – this caused a drastic change in the surrounding utilities,” says a source at a contractor that saw its bond returned.

The project will increase the well pressure of the Bab North Oil Reservior by reinjecting CO2 from the gas processing facilities in Habshan.

“Once the scope of work is clear they will issue a tender again. So it will be a retender completely, the technical bids submitted will be trashed,” says the source. A total of 14 EPC contractors had submitted bids.

The project is running alongside a similar nitrogen gas injection (NGI) scheme currently being tendered. South Korea’s Samsung Engineering is the frontrunner for NGI contract after submitting the lowest bid of about $100m on 25 July (MEED 12:08:11).