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Contractors submit bids for Dorra offshore gas project package

4 June 2025

Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) has received bids from contractors for one of the offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages on the Dorra gas field development project.

Contractors submitted bids for offshore package 1 by the deadline of 2 June, according to sources. The previous bid submission deadlines for the package were 19 May, 6 May, 22 April, 8 April and 24 March.

MEED reported in March that KJO was pushing forward with a major project to produce gas from the Dorra offshore field, located in Gulf waters in the Neutral Zone shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

KJO has divided the scope of work on the Dorra gas field development project, which is estimated to be valued at up to $10bn, into four EPC packages – three offshore and one onshore.

The EPC scope of work on the Dorra gas field development project packages and their submission deadlines are as follows:

  • Package 1: Seven offshore jackets and laying of intra-field lines – 2 June
  • Package 2A: Seven production deck modules and associated corrosion-resistant, alloy-lined pipes connecting to the gas compression plant – 30 June
  • Package 2B: Compression and auxiliary platforms, an accommodation platform, associated trunklines and cables connecting to the shoreline – 30 June
  • Package 3: Onshore gas processing plant – 30 June

The following contractors are understood to be among those bidding for the three offshore packages:

  • Lamprell (Saudi Arabia/UAE)
  • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
  • McDermott (US)
  • NMDC Energy (UAE)
  • Saipem (Italy)

Contractors bidding for offshore packages 2A and 2B have the option of submitting a combined proposal, sources previously told MEED.

The Dorra field is estimated to hold 20 trillion cubic metres of gas and 310 million barrels of oil.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been working together to develop the offshore field since it was discovered in 1965. The two sides expect to produce about 1 billion cubic feet a day of gas from the asset and have agreed to split the gas output equally.

A geopolitical tussle over ownership of the asset has hampered progress.

Iran, which calls the field Arash, claims that it partially extends into its territory and that Tehran should be a stakeholder in any development project. 

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia maintain that the Dorra field lies entirely in the waters of their shared territory, known as the Neutral Zone or Divided Zone, and that Iran has no legal basis for its claim. 

In February 2024, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reiterated their claim over the Dorra field in a joint statement issued during an official meeting between Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud in Riyadh.

KJO, which is jointly owned by Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is understood to have issued the tenders for the project in August last year.

MEED reported in September 2023 that Aramco and KPC had selected France’s Technip Energies to carry out front-end engineering and design (feed) and pre-feed work on the Dorra offshore field development project.

The original feed work for a project to develop the field was performed more than a decade ago. However, due to changes in technology, the engineering design needed to be updated before the project could reach a final investment decision.

ALSO READ: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait announce Neutral Zone oil find
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Indrajit Sen

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