India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is moving ahead on a key offshore package involving the additional development of its Cluster 7 field off the country's west coast, with up to four players understood to be competing.

Project watchers said bids were recently submitted by up to four offshore contractors or groups, with the Indian state-controlled giant expected to finalise an award by end of this year.

The further development of Cluster 7 is thought to be valued at more than $250 million and is among the key offshore projects offered by ONGC this year.

Those understood to have submitted technical and commercial offers to ONGC include Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), compatriot Afcons, Malaysia’s Sapura Energy and a consortium comprising Vietnam’s Vietsovpetro, India’s Dolphin Offshore and Singapore’s Federal offshore.

While L&T and Sapura are likely to offer fabrication on their own, Afcons is expected to tie-up with a Southeast Asian yard for fabrication work, one source said.

The workscope envisages the engineering, procurement and construction of three new wellhead platforms, one new wellhead-riser platform and about 90 kilometres of subsea pipelines across multiple offshore segments.

The B192-10, B192-5A and D30-2 platforms are each expected to have six slots, while the WO24-3 platform is likely to have seven slots, one industry source suggested.

A clamp-on structure at the existing B192-1 platform has also been included in the workscope. ONGC is already producing from its Cluster 7 shallow-water oilfield with the help of a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel chartered from Malaysia’s Bumi Armada in 2013.

A quartet of contractors are also competing for a separate offshore project from ONGC that involves the redevelopment of its Heera field, off India's west coast.

Heera’s workscope is said to involve two new 12-slot wellhead platforms and the laying of multiple segments of subsea pipelines. Almost similar players are believed to be battling it out for the Heera project.

Those understood to have recently submitted bids for Heera include L&T, Sapura, a consortium comprising Afcons with Indonesia’s PT Meindo Elang Indah, and another grouping of Vietsovpetro with Federal Offshore and Dolphin Offshore, sources suggested.

One industry source pointed out that the successful contractor on Heera will also have an edge for Cluster 7 due to cost synergies. In addition to the four players, Saipem of Italy and Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company were also expected to initially bid for the Cluster 7 project, but are unlikely to have submitted their offers, sources said.

ONGC — headed by managing director Shashi Shanker — is carrying out several brownfield developments off India's west coast and is expected to offer projects worth more than $1 billion next year, industry sources have suggested.