At least four players are fighting to win a prestigious front-end engineering and design contract covering Eni’s huge Structures A&E project off Libya.

Industry sources expect a contract to be placed by the end of this year, perhaps as soon as October, with the FEED study likely to last a minimum of nine months.

A final investment decision is currently targeted for 2020, with first oil likely to flow in 2023, despite the challenging conditions associated with working in Libya.

Upstream was told that Wood of the UK, Australia-based Worley and London-listed Petrofac are chasing the FEED work with suggestions other players could possibly be in the mix.

However, it is understood these contenders have their work cut out to land the contract because they are up against a joint venture between the operator’s in-house engineering arm EniProgetti and Tripoli-based Taknia, which is wholly-owned by Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC).

A number of sources suggested that EniProgetti-Taknia is well-placed, although they added that a decision had yet to be made.

One country watcher pointed out that Taknia has been “shattered” by ongoing turmoil in Libya, so securing work on a project of this scale would be welcome.

Meetings related to the contract were said to be taking place in the UK over the last two months.

At least two other groups pre-qualified to take part in the tender process but declined to take things further.

It is believed that these included groups led by Argentina’s Techint and UK-based ODE.

As well as FEED studies, the contract is expected to include basic engineering and, potentially, project management services.

Whichever company wins the engineering contract is barred from participating in the engineering, procurement, construction and installation exercises.

Structures A&E is a mammoth project centred on a huge production platform, a large wellhead platform, subsea wells, multiple pipelines — including one to handle carbon dioxide — and an onshore processing train at Mellitah.

At the heart of the project is the big production platform — called PPE and with a total weight of some 50,000 tonnes or more — on Structure E.

This platform is designed to handle up to 600 million cubic feet per day of gas and 28,000 barrels per day of liquids.

This platform will have 20 well slots and will initially host 15 dry trees for gas and three for oil.

Five subsea wells will also be connected to PPE, the topsides of which will house separation, treatment and compression facilities, a 120-person living quarters and what is called a fast-moving workover rig (FMWR).

Structure A will host a wellhead platform, called WHPA, designed to house eight dry trees, a helideck, a 12-person accommodation module and an FMWR. This facility will be designed to handle peak gas output of 160 MMcfd.

PPE’s wells will be drilled by a semi-submersible with a jack-up to drill the WHPA wells. Production from Structure A will flow via a new 43-kilometre, 18-inch multiphase pipeline to the existing Sabratha platform, which will be modified.

After four or five years of production, compression facilities destined to be built as part of Eni’s nearby Bahr Essalam project will also be used for Structure A.

Gas and condensate from Structure E will be sent about 130 kilometres to the Mellitah plant via two new pipelines that may have diameters of 32 inches and 14 inches, respectively.

At Mellitah, new trains to process gas and condensate will be built along with a new sulphur recovery unit and extra utilities.

Eni — headed by chief executive Claudio Descalzi— is also expected to take this opportunity to rejuvenate the entire facility and extend its design life.

Gas would be exported from Mellitah to Italy via the Greenstream pipeline.

At Mellitah, carbon dioxide will be extracted from the two new fields’ wellstreams and piped via a new 110-kilometre, 16-inch pipeline to the Bahr Essalam field for injection.

In 2017, Eni contacted yards about capabilities, availability and indicative costs for a 31,000-tonne, 235-metre-high jacket plus 24 piles with a total weight of almost 15,000 tonnes.

Thought to be related to the Structure E platform, the jacket was to host a 25,000-tonne integrated topsides, comprising a 21,000-tonne main deck, a 1500-tonne living quarters and a 2500-tonne drilling rig.

Given the risk profile associated with working on Libyan projects, it is unclear which yards could build the offshore facilities.

The A and E discoveries lie in Area D of the NC-41 licence, which is operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas, a 50:50 joint venture between Eni and NOC.