A pre-qualification call for a US$1.5bil (RM4.6bil) fast-track high-carbon dioxide gas development at the West Sepat field off Malaysia is expected to draw submissions this week from as many as 18 leading names in the domestic and international contracting scene, according to international oil and gas (O&G) publication Upstream.
Upstream reported that Petroliam Nasional Bhd had organised a shortlisting exercise through the petroleum management unit for a front-end engineering and design competition, which would eventually lead to the award of an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract for an unindentified high-carbon dioxide gas field development.
Alliance Research O&G analyst Arhnue Tan said major contracts coming out of West Sepat would be fabrication and installation as well as pipelaying. Besides this, equipment and services would be required as well as offshore support vessels and subsea expertise.
Tan said the fabrication portion for the central processing platform (CPP) and both the wellhead platforms would likely account for some 50% of the RM4.6bil project value.
She added that while the tender was open to international players, local heavyweights like SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd and Malaysia Marine And Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) would vie for the CPP prize.
MMHE currently has 50% capacity in its east yard, while SapuraKencana would have room by June 2013, as it would have several projects delivered by then.
Regional competition could emerge from the likes of McDermott International Inc (together with its partner TH Heavy Engineering Bhd) or Singapore's SMOE Pte Ltd and Thai yards like Nippon Steel.
“Installation and pipelaying would again see SapuraKencana in the fray, given its assets for the job. However, competition would be stiff, with regional competitors like McDermott, Technip, Swiber and Emas Offshore vying for the job,” said Tan.
She noted that other beneficiaries included Wah Seong Corp Bhd for pipe coating, Tanjung Offshore Bhd and Deleum Bhd for equipment supply and Bumi Armada Bhd, Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd and SILK Holdings Bhd for vessel support with hook-up commissioning.
Upstream said the Malaysian unit of Norway's Aker Solutions had been deemed as an early frontrunner, given its involvement in conceptual studies for West Sepat.
The other names touted by Upstream were US-based Bechtel, Technip, MMC Oil & Gas Engineering, Petrofac-RNZ and Ranhill WorleyParson.
The gas field is understood to be the gas leg of the producing Sepat oilfield now being developed using a mobile offshore production unit and floating storage offloading vessel.
The first phase of development plans includes a 27,000-tonne CPP and wellhead platform.
Meanwhile, the second phase involves a second wellhead platform tied to an anchor production facility. Upstream said some 200km of pipeline would be required to connect gas from the field to onshore facilities in Terengganu.