Five leading international groups have submitted bids to participate in a design competition for Abu Dhabi-based Al Yasat Petroleum Operations Company’s Belbazem offshore development, which is thought to be valued at almost $1 billion.

Project observers told Upstream that at least these five players are thought to have submitted technical and commercial offers to Al Yasat for the project.

One source said up to three players from the bid list are likely to be selected by Al Yasat for the design competition by the end of this year, with front-end engineering and design work expected to take about six months after a contract is signed.

Those understood to have bid include Italy’s Saipem, Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, McDermott of the US, a consortium comprising Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) with UK-listed Petrofac and another group involving UK-based TechnipFMC with China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC).

One source said Al Yasat, which is a subsidiary of state-owned giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and China National Petroleum Corporation, is expected to finalise the list of contractors for the design competition within weeks.

Another source tipped the NPCC-Petrofac and Technip-COOEC consortia as frontrunners to participate in the Belbazem work due to their local capabilities.

The Abu Dhabi state-owned giant this year introduced localisation standards in the guise of an In-Country Value programme, and the two groups are understood to have an edge above the others, based on that scoring.

The design competition should lead on to a prized engineering, procurement and construction contract that is expected to be awarded by middle of next year.

In addition to those contesting, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries was also thought to be initially involved but the contractor is not believed to have followed through with a bid.

Al Yasat earlier this year initiated a pre-qualification exercise for the Belbazem design competition and issued tender documents to selected contenders.

The Belbazem offshore field development involves a mix of offshore and onshore facilities that are thought to be substantial but are yet to be finalised. The field is expected to produce around 45,000 barrels per day of oil and about 30 million cubic feet per day of gas, one source suggested.

The offshore scope is likely to involve several wellhead platforms, subsea pipelines, subsea cables and other associated offshore facilities.

In addition, electrical submersible pumps are expected to be installed across all production wells.

Output is expected to be exported to the existing Sateh Al Razboot (SARB) processing plant, sources suggested.

On the onshore front, one gas processing train is also likely to be set up at the SARB plant on Zirku Island.

The operator also plans to build a new seawater injection facility at the SARB facility.

Adnoc is increasingly adopting a new contractual strategy for oil and gas developments as it aims to fast-track offshore projects.

The new strategy aims to integrate the FEED and EPC stages to reduce the timeframe of the development phase.

This year, Adnoc modified its contracting model for the first time in the past three decades. This followed an intense integration and cost optimisation process that was carried out by the state-controlled giant over the past year or two.