British supermajor BP has started the tender ball rolling for a key contract to support the next phase of its Tangguh liquefied natural project in Indonesia’s Papua Barat (West Papua) province.

BP has launched the prequalification for project management consultancy (PMC) services for the execution stage of its $2 billion-plus Ubadari, Tangguh enhanced gas recovery/carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and Tangguh onshore compression (UCC) project which is designated as being of national strategic importance.

Prospective PMC services contractors will be required to supervise various works in line with the UCC project’s onshore and offshore scopes including engineering services, project control services, construction services, sustainability and permitting services, and procurement services. The PMC work — which is estimated will be completed within 24 months — is to be performed in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, at the Tangguh LNG plant and other locations as approved by BP.

Those looking to bid will need to have proven experience of managing similar engineering, procurement and construction scopes for offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities. The Tangguh operator will accept bids from single contractors and consortia although the PMC services contract has a minimum local content (TKDN) of 70%.

The Ubadari development envisages two new normally unattended offshore platforms — UBA and UBB — being installed in water depths of about 20 to 25 metres, plus a four-kilometre, 12-inch diameter corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) subsea pipeline to deliver gas from the UBB platform to the UBA structure and a 72-kilometre, 24-inch diameter CRA subsea pipeline from the UBA platform to Tangguh’s existing Train 3 onshore receiving facility, to which it will be tied in.

For the Vorwata field, an offshore EGR platform will be required to be installed in a water depth of about 40 metres, which will receive CO2 via a 12-kilometre, 12-inch diameter CRA pipeline from shore. The Vorwata scope also calls for the onshore tie-in to Tangguh’s existing onshore acid gas removal unit.

Ubadari is targeting first gas in the third quarter of 2026 while the Vorwata EGR project is scheduled for operational start-up in the following year.

The Indonesian government in August 2021 approved the Plan of Development for the Tangguh UCC project, which comprises exploitation of the Ubadari gas field, EGR through CCUS in the Vorwata field and onshore compression.

“Once the CCUS project is implemented, which is subject to a final investment decision by [the] Tangguh partners, it will remove up to 90% of the reservoir-associated [carbon dioxide] which represents nearly half of Tangguh LNG emissions, making Tangguh one of the lowest [greenhouse gas] intensity LNG plants in the world,” the project’s Japanese co-venturer JX Nippon Oil & Gas earlier said.

The Tangguh liquefaction project, which came into operation back in 2009, currently has nameplate production capacity of 11.4 million tonnes per annum after the third train recently came into operation.

The Indonesian authorities late last year approved a 20-year extension until 2055 for the Tangguh PSC, which comprises the Berau, Muturi and Wiriagar contracts.