July 01, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1428

DUBAI, June 30: Abu Dhabi has asked oil companies to resubmit bids for a giant sour gas project in the United Arab Emirates as it divides the project into two separate contracts, a magazine reported on Friday.

Companies, including BP and Royal Dutch Shell, said in April they had submitted bids to develop the Shah and Bab gas fields in a contract that could have a total value of $10 billion.

Abu Dhabi will now ask for separate bids for the two fields as the cost and complexity of developing them together was too great, London-based weekly, Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has asked oil companies to resubmit bids for the Shah field alone by mid-July, MEED said, without citing sources.

The Bab field would be developed in a second stage, MEED quoted UAE oil minister Mohammed al-Hamli as saying.

Saudi Arabia keeps the world's biggest oil reserves closed to international firms, while gas exporter Qatar has a moratorium on new projects. France's Total, ConocoPhillips and the US's OCP were also bidding for the project, sources said.—Reuters