Three of the four prequalifed contractors - the UK's AMEC, Australia's WorleyParsons and the US' Fluor Corporation - submitted bids on 28 February for the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract covering the gas oil Mina al-Ahmadi-Subiya pipeline project.

The client, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), is expected to make an award by the end of the second quarter.

The estimated KD 100 million ($290 million) EPCM contract covers the supply and installation of a 20-inch-diameter, 160-170-kilometre-long pipeline to supply gas oil fuel for the proposed Subiya power station north of Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.

The successful EPCM contractor will also carry out front-end engineering and design (FEED) and detailed engineering of the pipeline. The project will take about eight months to complete.

Four groups of companies are due to submit bids by the extended deadline of mid-March for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build the 1,500-MW combined-cycle Subiya power station (MEED 14:10:05).

The Subiya feedstock scheme will be the first local oil and gas project to be tendered on an EPCM basis. KOC is understood to have adopted the new approach to speed up project execution and reduce contractor risk (see Special Report, pages 42-45).