Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) has issued a tender for Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC’s) $4.2bn heavy oil project at Ratga. The tender is for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for facilities supporting the first phase of the development. KOC is targeting 60,000 b/d of 12-16°API crude production by 2017 with a second phase expected to target 120,000 b/d by 2020. The company expects a third development phase to allow the company to hit 270,000 b/d by 2030.

Originally, the project was scheduled to produce 150,000 b/d by 2013, ramping up to 900,000 b/d by 2020; however, a steam injection pilot was disappointing, contributing to KOC’s decision to scale back its ambitions at Ratga (MEES, 15 March). The EPC tender will include steam production facilities however, and KOC says in the tender document that a reservoir simulation indicates that it will be able to ramp up to 60,000 b/d at Ratga within seven months after the start of steaming. (CONTINUED - 306 WORDS)