At least three leading international groups are set to battle it out for a $2 billion onshore contract from Qatargas for new liquefied natural gas storage tanks required for its giant North Field Expansion project.

Multiple industry sources said a trio of international players are expected to submit bids to the subsidiary of Qatari state-owned giant Qatar Petroleum in October.

Those thought to be preparing bids include US giant McDermott, Qatari Diar Vinci Construction (QDVC) — a joint venture between Qatari Diar and French player Vinci Construction Grands Projects — and a consortium comprising Italy’s Saipem with South Korea’s Daewoo E&C, industry sources said.

South Korean giant Samsung C&T is thought to also be among the qualified players but is not expected to bid, added sources.

QP in May said that it had launched the tender for storage and loading facilities for its giant four-train North Field Expansion LNG project. The workscope covers three LNG storage tanks together with associated compressors and rundown lines from the liquefaction trains to the storage area, two additional LNG berths with an option for a third berth, and loading and return lines from the LNG berths to the tanks.

Award of the LNG storage tanks package is expected in February next year, according to QP chief executive Saad Sherida al-Kaabi.

Qatar aims to boost its LNG production from 77 million tonnes per annum to 110 million tpa.

QP through Qatargas is carrying out the tender process for several key onshore as well as offshore engineering, procurement and construction packages for the North Field Expansion project.

The onshore packages which include the liquefaction facilities, storage tanks, utilities and sulphur handling facilities are thought to be worth upwards of $18 billion.

In mid-April, QP issued tender documents to three short-listed consortia for work on the four 7.8 million tpa mega-trains for the giant expansion programme.

The tenders were issued to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda and UK-based TechnipFMC, another grouping of Japan’s JGC and South Korean giant Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and a third group comprising Saipem, McDermott and Taiwan’s CTCI.

This tender package involves the EPC work for the four liquefaction trains with gas and liquid treatment facilities.

In addition, the work on utilities and the sulphur handling facilities is being tendered as separate packages, sources said.

QP has also launched a tender for potentially more than 100 new LNG carriers to support the North Field Expansion.

Offshore, QP earlier this year also awarded eight charter deals for jack-ups to two contractors — local player Gulf Drilling International and US-based Northern Offshore Drilling — for drilling related to the project.

McDermott has also secured an EPC contract covering offshore wellhead jackets as well as a second award for front-end engineering and design work that covers eight unmanned wellhead platform topsides, four 38-inch trunklines and four 28-inch intra-field lines for the Qatari giant's North Field Expansion project.

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Trio in frame for Qatargas LNG tanks package