By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, May 15 -- Angola's state-owned oil company, Sonangol, and Texaco Inc., White Plains, NY, Tuesday said they invited four groups to bid for an engineering contract on the proposed liquefied natural gas project in Luanda, Angola.
Meanwhile, Citibank was retained as financial advisor for a financing feasibility study.
The invitation to bid for a front-end engineering design contract (FEED) was made to:
-- Kellogg Brown & Root, a unit of Dallas, Tex.-based Halliburton Co.; JGC Corp. of Japan; and Technip SA of Paris.
-- Chiyoda Corp., Japan; Foster Wheeler Corp., Clinton, NJ; ABB Group, Zurich; and Stolt Comex SA.
-- Bechtel Group Inc.; Bouygues Offshore SA, France; and Saibos (a Saipem SPA - Bouygues Offshore SA joint venture).
-- Kvaerner AS of Norway; Black & Veatch Pritchard, Overland Park, Kan.; and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., South Korea.
Bill Hauhe, Texaco's Angola LNG project manager, said, "We intend to award FEED contracts to two successful consortia by mid-year 2001."
A Texaco spokeswoman told OGJ Online that a final investment decision on whether to proceed with the project will be made in early 2002. If approved, the first cargo would be shipped in mid-2005.
Angelo Ribeiro, Sonangol's senior vice-president, said the proposed project would use associated gas from deepwater discoveries. Angola officials have said they want to stop flaring gas.
The Citibank feasibility study, expected to be completed in 2 months, will investigate financing options for the project and begin to structure the financial program.
Under terms of the FEED award, two successful bidders will be required to plan and engineer an offshore and onshore facilities design package for the LNG project and simultaneously prepare lump-sum, turnkey bids.
The Angola LNG project is a joint development between Sonangol and Texaco, and additional partners are expected to join the project soon.
Initially, the plant configuration allows for a one-train design each with a throughput of 4 million tonnes/year. The project is expandable to four trains on the chosen site in the Luanda area.
A Texaco and Sonangol joint feasibility study concluded sufficient gas resources exist to supply a LNG project, that the project is feasible, and that markets are obtainable.
