Monday, Jul 30, 2007
DUBAI (Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world's largest oil company by production, is expected to invite companies in August to help it develop the 900,000 barrels a day Manifa offshore oil field, people familiar with the plans said Monday.
Aramco plans to invite prequalified companies to bid for an estimated $3 billion worth of contracts on the company's largest-ever offshore project, the people said.
The estimated $10-billion Manifa development program aims to add 900,000 barrels a day of Arabian heavy crude, 120 million cubic feet a day of gas and 50,000 barrels a day of condensate to Aramco's production by mid-2011.
Companies including Bechtel Group Inc., Fluor Corp., JGC Corp. and Technip S.A. in late May submitted prequalification documents to Aramco but are still awaiting final approval to bid, the people said.
The tender documents for the project's four packages, which include oil and gas processing facilities, were originally due to be released in June or July but have been delayed without explanation, the people said.
According to an Aramco spokesman, the Manifa project is still "moving along on schedule, as planned."
Aramco in February awarded an estimated $1 billion contract to Belgium dredging contractor Jan De Nul for the project's offshore portion, covering dredging works in the Persian Gulf.
Middle East oil producers are spending income generated from four years of high oil prices on expanding and upgrading their crude oil production capacity to meet rising global demand, in particular from fast-growing Asian economies such as China and India.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is working to increase output capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009 from 10.8 million barrels a day currently.
Crude oil prices have been trading at levels of more than $70 a barrel, partly on concerns over sluggish supply additions from oil producing countries.
The front-month September contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading $0.01 higher at $77.01 a barrel at 1330 GMT.
Manifa's Arabian Heavy crude will be exported from Aramco's Al Juaymah and Ras Tanura terminals, also located in the country's east, while the gas and the condensate will be processed at the Khursaniyah gas plant, which will be expanded as part of the Manifa program.
The scheme also involves construction of four pipelines and a water supply system.
-By Oliver Klaus, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 3644 961 Oliver.Klaus@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
30-07-07 1403GMT
