Shortlisted companies attended a technical meeting in Riyadh on 12 July when they were addressed by officials from a number of ministries and other bodies, as well as a representative of Saudi Aramco, the newsletter reported."This was followed by briefings in Dhahran by a Saudi Aramco study team on 22-24 July," the weekly said. "Their proposals have to be submitted to the Saudi negotiating team by 26 August."

The shortlisted firms are Royal Dutch/Shell, Phillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Texaco, Conoco, Enron/Oxy, BP Amoco, Eni, Marathon and TotalFinaElf.Saudi Arabia in May asked international oil firms to present questions on gas investment. The kingdom is confident it will attract $100 billion in energy investment despite competition from rival regional oil and gas powers which are also opening their door to foreigners.

Although companies know that at present they will not get their hands on the heart of the Saudi industry - oil exploration and production - they will invest big money in less profitable gas projects.

MEES said three so-called Gas Initiative projects were under discussion - Kidan/Shaybah gas development, the Rabigh Industrial City And Midyan Area Field Development and the Haradh Gas Development.

These involve major gas exploration, field development and downstream investment opportunities, it said. MEES said the main points of the Kidan/Shaybah development were gas exploration in an area of the Rub' al-Khali (Empty Quarter), development of the Kidan gasfields and Shaybah excess gas and construction of a pipeline to transport sales gas from Kidan and Shaybah to the Hawiyah straddle plant.

Highlights of the Rabigh and Midyan development were exploration in northern Red Sea areas, development of the Midyan and Barqan gasfields, construction of a gas pipeline from Midyan to Tabuk, development of the Umm Luj & al-Wajh onshore gasfields on the Red Sea plain just North of Yanbu, piping gas from Umm Luj and al-Wajh to Yanbu and development of an integrated refining and petrochemical complex at Rabigh Industrial City.

Main components of the Haradh development are gasexploration in an area of the Rub al-Khali, piping 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of raw gas - including that from Saudi Aramco's fields - to the Haradh gas treatment plant being built by Saudi Aramco.

Condensate and natural gas liquids from Haradh will be treated at Saudi Aramco facilities, and ethane and NGL will be used as feedstock for a petrochemical plant at Jubail, producing polyethylene, ethylene glycol and other products. MEES said other potential gas initiative and downstream oil projects included gas exploration and gas field development throughout Saudi Arabia, except in Saudi Aramco's areas of operation where it may hinder, disrupt or interfere with Saudi Aramco's operations.