Aramco awards EPC contracts for $10bln Saudi gas network

PHOTO

Saudi oil giant Aramco has selected contractors to execute engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works through 17 packages on the third expansion phase of Master Gas System network (MGS-3) being developed in the kingdom at an investment of $10 billion, said a report.

Of these, the first two packages involve upgradation of existing gas compression systems and installation of new gas compressors, reported Meed.

Aramco said the other 15 packages are related to laying gas transport pipelines across various locations in the kingdom.

The letters of intent (LoIs) have been issued to the following contractors for 16 EPC packages of the MGS-3 project:

*Package 1 – China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Company (China)

*Package 2 – Sepco (China)

*Packages 3 + 12 – Gas Arabian (Saudi Arabia)

*Packages 4 + 9 – Mapa (Turkey)

*Packages 6 + 7 – Sinopec Petroleum Services (China)

*Packages 8 – Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)

*Packages 10 + 14 – Nesma & Partners (Saudi Arabia)/Sicim (Italy)

*Packages 13 + 15 + 17 – Kalpataru Power Transmission (India)

*Package 5 – Bin Quraya (Saudi Arabia)

*Package 11 – Max Streicher (Germany)

The original Master Gas System (MGS) was built in the 1970s and commissioned in 1982. Since then, Aramco has been supplying natural gas to its customers across Saudi Arabia via the network, mainly channelling associated gas from Ghawar and other oil fields, said the report.

Over the past decade, amid rising gas demand from Saudi Arabia’s industrial and household sectors, Aramco has undertaken projects to increase its non-associated gas production. It launched the second expansion phase of the MGS (MGS-2) in 2015, it added.

Aramco completed the solicitation of interest (SoI) process with contractors for the two gas compression packages of the MGS-3 project in December, said the Meed report.

SoIs for the pipeline packages were issued by Aramco in March last year, with contractors expressing interest within days, it added.-TradeArabia News Service