Dolphin Energy awards $418m construction contract for Taweelah - Fujairah gas pipeline

The new gas pipeline will be 48 inches in diameter. It is to be laid over an environmentally approved cross-country route, through more than 240 kilometers of desert and mountainside - one of the longest and largest overland pipelines in the UAE.

The TFP will link Dolphin Energy's gas receiving facilities at Taweelah, on the coast of Abu Dhabi, with the ADWEA Power and Water Desalination Plant at Qidfa, in Fujairah. It is designed to carry significant quantities of Dolphin gas from Qatar via Taweelah directly to the UAE east coast.

The value of the TFP construction contract is $418m. Eight international construction companies initially bid for the work, and technical tenders were accepted from five, which proceeded to the commercial bid stage. They were: Al Jaber Energy Services, UAE; Consolidated Contractors International (CCC), Greece; Dodsal, India; Stroytransgaz PJSC of Russia and Saipem/Snamprogetti of Italy.

The award for the TFP line pipe was announced earlier, in December 2007. The order went to Salzgitter Mannesmann International GmbH, and is worth more than $200m: some 120,000 tons of X70 48-inch coated line pipe will be supplied in total. Already more than 40% of the pipe lengths have been received, with delivery completion set for spring 2009.

Dolphin Energy's General Manager UAE, Ibrahim Ahmed Al Ansari, said: 'We congratulate Stroytransgaz PJSC on being awarded this contract, at the end of an exhaustive tender process.'

Mr Al Ansari added: 'Dolphin expects swift mobilization and efficient progress with the contract. We are fully committed to supporting ADWEA's gas requirements.'