Ranhill joint venture bids for pipeline jobs

RANHILL Bhd and its Australian partner, McConnell Dowell, have bid for jobs under the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline project.
Ranhill president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad said that Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) had got back to them to clarify some technical details on their proposal.
"Technical clarification is at the tail-end of their evaluation, and once that is done, they should be looking at commercial valuation and the awarding should be soon after that," he said.
Hamdan added that the company had also pre-qualified for the Sabah-Sarawak oil and gas terminal facilities for processing gas and oil.
On another development, he said that the Senai-Desaru Expressway will only be fully completed in February 2009.
Speaking to reporters after the group's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Hamdan said the Senai-Pasir Gudang stretch, under Packages 1 and 2 of the project, will be opened by August next year.
However, the section from Cahaya Baru to Desaru will be delayed by about six months.
"If I was only half through with the earthworks, I would be worried. But I am almost done (90 per cent) with that and I don't see any further delays in the completion of the expressway as we have all the supplies we need," he said.
Last Thursday, RAM Holdings Bhd put Senai-Desaru Expressway Bhd's RM1.46 billion bonds on "Rating Watch with a negative outlook" because of the project delays since last year.
On its Sudan project, Hamdan said the group had reached a settlement agreement with its client, a joint venture between China National Petroleum Co and Petronas, to recoup the US$200 million (RM672 million) cost overrun it incurred.
They have agreed on a combination of variation order and charge order of US$50 million (RM168 million), an expansion contract to 300,000 barrels a day worth US$150 million (RM504 million), and the main contract of a water injection facility worth US$167 million (RM561 million).
Ranhill currently has a RM15 billion order book for engineering, procurement, commission and construction work under its belt, which will last it another seven years.
About 85 per cent of the orders are from overseas.