PMC contractors prepare Khazzan bids

Five shortlisted international contractors are preparing to submit bids for the Khazzan phase two project management contract later this month, media reported on Tuesday.

US contractors Bechtel, Jacobs Engineering and KBR, along with Worley Parsons and Amec Foster Wheeler, recently acquired by Wood Group, will all be submitting bids for the work associated with BP’s tight gas project in Oman’s Block 61.

Having been the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor for phase one of the Khazzan development, Jacobs is believed to be the frontrunner for the phase-two PMC.

In May, contracting for the main EPC packages is believed to get underway. Phase-two work will involve adding a third processing train to handle gas from Ghazeer.

The two-train central processing facility is currently being constructed by <a href=’https://theenergyyear.com/companies-institutions/petrofac/’>Petrofac and Consolidated Contractors Company of Greece, putting them in pole-position for train 3.

Block 61 represents the largest accumulation of tight gas discovered in the Middle East, holding around 2.83 tcm (100 tcf) of gas.

BP expects to deliver the first gas to the Omani pipeline network by November 2017, initially at rates of some 14.2 mcm (500 mcf) per day of gas. A second train is to come on stream in 2018, bringing output to 28.3 mcm (1 bcf) per day.

In Phase II of the project, more wells will be drilled – 125, according to BP – to increase production to 42.5 mcm [1.5 bcf] per day in 2020.