(Reuters) A number of local and international engineering construction firms are in the race for a key project that is central to Petroleum Development Oman 's ( PDO ) goal to sustain gas flows from its main gas production hub at Saih Rawl in central Oman. Financial and technical bids were submitted here recently for Phase 2 of PDO 's Saih Rawl Depletion Compression (SRDC) project, which is critical to ensuring that gas exports to major consumers are maintained and at the prescribed pressure and in the requisite volumes.

The phase 2 development comes close on the heels of the inauguration last month of the first phase of the Saih Rawl Depletion Compression project an estimated $550 million investment that reinforces PDO 's dominant place at the heart of Oman's flourishing gas industry. Presently the largest gas field in the country, Saih Rawl has been in production since 1991, catering to much of gas demand in the North of Oman. Volumes from Saih Rawl are processed at PDO 's massive Central Processing Plant (CPP) located not far the field.

Daelim Industrial announced that it received the LOA (Letter of Appointment) for the construction of the oil and gas pipeline remote control system worth KRW222.8 billion from the Central Tender Committee of Kuwait on May 14. This project was ordered by KOC (Kuwait Oil Company), a state-run oil company of Kuwait, which will be conducted by EPC lump-sum turnkey base including engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning by Daelim.

This project is to establish an integrated information system to remotely monitor and operate the condition and leakage of oil and gas in real time that are transported through the pipelines in Kuwait. Daelim will build the integrated information system and an auxiliary centralized control center in Shuaiba located 40km south of Kuwait City. And measuring instruments will be installed along the pipelines. The construction period is 30 months.

(Reuters) Bahrain is in the process of finalising the implementation of the $8 billion refinery modernisation plan as part of the strategy to keep abreast the energy sector with changing dynamics of growth in the country, according to a senior Minister.

Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy, who opened the PETROTEC Bahrain 2012, said Bahrain was looking at its refining capacity beyond 2012.

“The refinery expansion will give us a competitive advantage and better position us to capture the opportunities that future market environments may offer. This initiative has been named as the Refinery Master Plan Project. The current refinery, parts of which are 75 years old, evolved over the years and new units have been added, the last two being the hydrocracker and the lube base oil plants in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The decision was made to further upgrade the refinery. The investment, depending on final capacity and configuration is currently estimated to be in the range of $8 billion. The new upgraded refinery will be able to meet the quality of the products demanded by the markets of the future, will meet the environmental standards, and will be designed to world class energy efficiency standards,” the Minister said.

Doha, Qatar, 7 May 2012 – Qatar Petroleum and Total today signed a research and technology project agreement on carbonates acid stimulation.

This project aims at increasing hydrocarbons production in Qatar by addressing a major concern in carbonates oil and gas fields -- improving significantly the efficiency of acid stimulation. Hydrocarbons geological reservoirs are carbonates reservoirs in Qatar.

These carbonates dissolve in acid. Thus, the main idea of this project is simple: injecting acid in wells dissolves a part of the rocks, thus improving the permeability of the reservoirs and, hence, the productivity of the producing wells. The joint research between QP and Total will especially focus on highly permeability contrasted formations and, at the same time, mitigate unwanted water production.

The project inaugurates the general technical partnership established within the Technology Cooperation Framework Agreement signed by QP and Total in November 2011. The two companies will work together, having a joint team in the domain of well acid stimulation in the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), which is an entity of the Qatar Foundation.