A clutch of leading international contracting giants is poised within days to submit technical bids for multiple offshore packages worth at least $5 billion for work on the expansion of Qatar’s North Oil Company’s Al Shaheen oilfield, dubbed the Ruya development.

Qatar has been aggressively scaling up its liquefied natural gas production capabilities, eying soaring demand in Europe and Asia, but is also expected to invest heavily in strategic offshore oil projects to sustain and ramp up production from some key assets.