UAE's Dolphin Energy has approved five bidders for the engineering, procurement and construction tender for the Eastern Gas Distribution System, the company said.

The participating bidders are France's Technip and UAE's Al-Jaber Energy Services; Consolidated Contractors; UAE-based Dodsal; Indian Larsen and Toubro; UAE's Al-Hussam General Contracting Establishment; and UAE's Contracting and Trading Co, the statement said.
The contract covers the EPC for pipelines, mechanical work, telecommunications, and modifying and upgrading the existing EGDS system.
Dolphin Energy is owned 51 per cent by Mubadala Development Co, on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi, and 24.5 per cent each by Total of France and Occidental Petroleum of the US.
Meanwhile, Dolphin Energy has signed a $1 billion Islamic financing agreement with 14 banks for its project to develop and transfer gas from Qatar to the UAE.
The $1 billion Islamic financing facility is by far the largest Sharia compliant oil and gas financing transaction to date, said Aref Kooheji, executive vice-president and head of corporate and investment banking for Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), a lead bank.
Dolphin initiative is scheduled to come onstream at the end of next year.
"More important than mere size, though, are the innovations achieved in this transaction, and the role they will play in the development of Sharia compliant financing in the future," he said.
"The lead banks believe that the Dolphin transaction sets valuable precedents that will serve as benchmarks for Islamically structured project financings for years to come," said the DIB official.
The Dolphin initiative involves the development of substantial natural gas reserves from Qatar's offshore North Field, their processing onshore at Qatar's Ras Laffan - and transportation by export pipeline of up to 3.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) capacity of refined natural gas to the UAE.
Dolphin appointed five banks with Sharia supervisory committees to lead the financing of a portion of the project, officials said, naming them as ABN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Gulf International Bank.
Dolphin also invited other banks, including a number that had never invested in Islamically structured financing facilities before, to join the financing.
Under the four-year facility, Dolphin will construct the portion of the project relating to the transportation system on behalf of the Islamic investors, and enter into a forward lease agreement for the use of such assets, officials said.
The massive Dolphin gas project, expected to come on line at the end of next year, involves the production and processing of natural gas from Qatar's North Field and transportation of the dry gas by pipeline to the UAE.
Dolphin is building a multi-billion-dollar regional network to export the gas via a submerged pipeline from Qatar, to Abu Dhabi, and then on to Dubai and Oman.
On the occasion of closing, Dolphin CEO Ahmed Al Sayegh said,"Dolphin, with the support of its shareholders, Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi, Total, and Occidental Petroleum Corporation, has always been interested in offering banks an Islamically structured investment option, and in contributing to the growth of the market for Islamic financing.
"We are extremely pleased to have partnered with our lead banks in the design and execution of such a substantial and innovative Shari'a compliant financing structure that has indeed attracted investors from around the world."
In addition to the five lead banks, the other participants in the transaction are: HSBC Amanah, Barclays Bank, Natexis Banques Populaire, Societe Generale, West LB, Export Development Canada (EDC), Sanpaolo IMI, China Construction Bank, Commercial Bank of Qatar.
The four-year financing facility is structured as an Istisna'a transaction, in which Dolphin enters into an agreement to construct the portion of the project relating to the transportation system on behalf of the Islamic investors, and enters into a Forward Lease Agreement for the use of such assets.
Meanwhile, the Dolphin Gas Project is on track to deliver gas next year as construction of two offshore production platforms in Qatar nears completion and another project is about to start in Abu Dhabi, a company spokesman said.
"The Dolphin Gas Project is on schedule with construction under way in all areas. Dolphin is currently completing erection of its two offshore gas production platforms in Qatar's North Field. It is drilling the associated gas wells to supply the project and is working on the foundations and initial construction of the gas processing plant at Qatar's Ras Laffan," the spokesman said, according to a report.
"Construction of the landfall facilities at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi where the gas from Qatar will arrive, is about to begin."
The pipe lengths for the sea lines from the North Field to Ras Laffan and for the export pipeline from Ras Laffan to Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, comprise over 400,000 tonnes of steel delivered to Qatar since May 2004, with final deliveries in fall.
 They will now be coated prior to pipe-laying operations that will start towards year-end, the spokesman added.