The bidders are: South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction,with the UK's Foster Wheeler Energyand the local Nargan Consulting Engineers; Canada's SNC Lavalin, with the local Tehran Jonoob; and the UK's Costain, with Sazeh Consultand Jahanpars, both local.

The contract will involve the construction of a new plant in Khouzestan with capacity to process 2,000 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of natural gas plus condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The LPG will be used as feedstock for petrochemicals. The client is National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), which originally tendered the plant several years ago before reviving the project late last year.

Petropars was awarded the PMC contract in late spring and subsequently issued a tender for a foreign contractor to work in partnership with the company on the project. 'We are now finalising an agreement with Sofregaz,' says Petropars managing director Gholamreza Manouchehri. 'This will not only be for Bid Boland but for all future PMC projects, although we will continue to carry out EPC work alone.'