The US/Canadian VECO is understood to be low bidder at about $20 million for the project management contract on the proposed Sahil, Asab and Shah (SAS) gas fields development project following the submission of commercial bids on 14 March.

The client, Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco), is expected to award the contract by the end of the second quarter. VECO's bid was some 25 per cent lower than the next best offer of about $25 million submitted by the UK's AMEC. Australia's WorleyParsons was the only other bidder (MEED 17:3:06).

Estimated to cost $1,400 million, the two-year SAS field development project is aimed at increasing production capacity from the three onshore fields by 60,000 barrels a day through major modifications to surface handling facilities. Technical bids have already been submitted for the six-month front-end engineering and design (FEED) package (MEED 17:3:06; 10:3:06).