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Firms prepare project management bids for Dorra gas scheme

31 October 2025

Engineering firms are preparing to submit bids to Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) for a tender covering project management consultancy (PMC) for the multibillion-dollar Dorra gas field facilities development project.

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 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) scope of work on the project to produce gas from the Dorra field into four EPC packages – three offshore and one onshore.

The broad scope of services under the tender involves providing PMC for EPC works for the Dorra gas facilities development project.

KJO issued the tender for PMC services for EPC works on the Dorra gas facilities development project on 29 September. Engineering firms have until 24 November to submit bids for the tender, sources told MEED.

According to sources, the following firms, among others, are understood to be bidding for the PMC tender:

  • Fluor (US)
  • KBR (US)
  • Kent (Saudi Arabia/UAE)
  • Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
  • Wood (UK)
  • Worley (Australia)

KJO hosted a job explanation meeting with the bidders for the tender on 15 October, as per sources.

ALSO READ: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait accelerate Dorra gas field development

MEED recently reported that Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH) has won the main EPC contract for offshore package 1 of the Dorra gas field facilities project.

The contract awarded by KJO to L&TEH is estimated to be valued between $140m and $150m, sources told MEED.

In August, MEED reported that L&TEH had emerged as the frontrunner to win offshore package 1 of the Dorra gas field facilities project, based on KJO's initial bid evaluation.

Contractors submitted bids for the package by a deadline of 2 June, it was previously reported.

With regards to the other three EPC packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project, the following contractors are understood to be among those bidding:

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

Contractors are currently working towards a bid submission deadline of 31 October for the project's other three EPC packages – offshore packages 2A and 2B and onshore package 3, according to sources.

The previous bid submission deadlines for the three packages were 30 June, 31 July, 25 August and 15 September.

The EPC scope of work on the packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project is as follows:

Package 2A – Dorra gas field wellhead topsides, flowlines and umbilicals

  • Seven gas wellhead platforms or topsides, with production routed to the central gathering platform
  • Corrosion-resistant, alloy-lined intra-field flowlines and umbilicals connecting the gas wellhead platforms to the central gathering platform and the auxiliary platform

Package 2B: Dorra central gathering platform complex, export pipelines and cables

  • Central gathering platform
  • Auxiliary platform
  • Dorra accommodation platform
  • Flare platform
  • Bridge platform
  • Pipelines for gas and condensate transmission to each shareholder
  • Produced water pipeline from the central gathering platform to Al-Khafji field and from the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait to Al-Khafji field
  • Recovered monoethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline from Al-Khafji field to the central gathering platform
  • Control and power system linking Al-Khafji onshore facilities to offshore units
  • Offshore central control room at Dorra accommodation platform

Package 3: Onshore gas processing facilities

  • Buildings to be constructed as part of KJO’s Dorra project onshore package include:
    • Dorra control building
    • Operator building
    • Operations, maintenance and engineering building
    • Process interface building
    • Onshore 115/69kV substation
    • Two gas-insulated substations
    • Warehouse
    • Maintenance building
    • Mosque
    • Telecommunications tower radio building
    • Beach valve substation at the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait
       
  • Processing facilities for KJO's onshore package:
    • Produced water receiving and treatment
    • Sour water stripping and treated water system
    • Rich MEG storage tank
    • MEG regeneration and reclamation
    • Recovered hydrocarbons system
    • Lean MEG storage and supply
    • Fresh MEG storage and supply
    • Beach valve stations at Al-Khafji and Al-Zour
       
  • Utilities:
    • Instrument and plant air system
    • Nitrogen generation system
    • Diesel storage and distribution system
    • Fuel gas system
    • Closed drain and slop tank system
    • Hazardous area open drains system
    • Industrial water system
    • Drinking water system
    • Flare gas recovery system and a low-pressure flare system
    • Fire water system
    • Emergency diesel generator
    • Sewage treatment

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 to the Dorra field in a joint statement issued during an official meeting in Riyadh 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.

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 2024.

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: Kent wins feed contract for Khafji desalter plant upgrade
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Indrajit Sen

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