Zakum Development Company (Zadco) has delayed the tendering process for two key contracts on its estimated $500m Satah full field development scheme.

The offshore oil developer had told engineering contractors that it would release an invitation to bid on the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by 16 May, and would ask for the final priced bids on the project management consultancy (PMC) before the end of the same month (MEED 13:5:10).

The firm, however, has decided to push the invitation and bid deadlines back until June to allow for more time on the design of the project, sources close to the scheme tell MEED.

The EPC contract covers the construction of new offshore facilities, and the upgrade of existing facilities and pipelines at Satah as part of a wider $500m programme to boost production at the field.

Five engineering firms submitted technical bids for the PMC deal to oversee the EPC contractors in February.

Zadco also sent out an invitation to bid on a $150-200m EPC deal to build new produced water facilities at the field in early April.

Under the development scheme, gas produced by Zadco will be injected into the Satah field to boost production to about 25,000 barrels a day (b/d) from undisclosed production levels currently. Contractors value the deal at about $500m.

The project is part of a wider scheme to boost production of the three fields Zadco operates to around 800,000 b/d by 2015. The company also wants to produce 750,000 b/d from the Upper Zakum field by 2015 and 70,000 b/d from the smaller Umm al-Dalkh reservoir.