The authorities in Malta are evaluating bids from three engineering companies battling to land a contract to provide advisory services to the government for the €320 million ($380 million) Sicily-to-Malta gas pipeline project.

The pipeline, dubbed Med-Link and supported by the European Union, is planned to have a capacity of 2 billion cubic metres per annum and will run 159 kilometres from Gela in southern Sicily to Delimara in Malta.

Once operational, the 22-inch diameter pipeline will replace a Bumi Armada floating storage and regasification unit that began operations at Delimara this year.

Genoa-based Rina Consulting, Aecom Infrastructure in Los Angeles and Brussels-headquartered Tractebel are vying for the order, which covers advice on a preliminary route survey, permitting procedures, front-end engineering and design work plus a review of engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

Bids were opened late last month with Rina nominally in pole position, having submitted the lowest price for this work scope of about €460,000.

Tractebel’s bid was more than double at €948,000 while Aecom’s offer came in at almost €1.45 million.

However, Tractebel should not be discounted because in 2015 it secured the contract to carry out a route identification study.

On that occasion, the Belgian player’s bid of €478,000 was not the lowest with rival offers from Wood Group, Xodus and Petrofac all below €455,000.

The Ministry of Energy & Water Management in Valetta is handling all the tender elements related to the pipeline and last month it began a bid process covering financial advice on the pipeline.

Bids are due for submission by 9 January next year.

Med-Link’s schedule is due to be operational in 2022 with environmental impact assessments (EIAs) set to take place next year.

The EIA approval processes should be simplified somewhat because most of the route runs parallel to Eni’s Greenstream project that takes gas from Libya to Sicily.

This summer, Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Med-Link “is a fundamental part” of the country’s energy policy.

Malta’s state-owned PetroMal is set to operate the pipeline.

Weekly

Bids in for Sicily-Malta gas line advisory role