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Saudi Aramco seeks Bids for Red Sea Seismic Survey | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, (Reuters) – At least three companies are bidding for a seismic survey in the Red Sea for state oil giant Saudi Aramco, industry sources said on Monday.

Norwegian surveyor Petroleum Geo-Services, WesternGeco, a unit of Schlumberger and Fugro NV are due to submit their bids in two weeks, a source close to the matter told Reuters.

“The invitation (to bid) is still active, everybody is studying their options,” he said.

A Fugro spokeswoman confirmed that the Dutch company had received an invitation to submit a proposal, without giving more details.

Last week, the oil publication Upstream reported that PGS, WesternGeco, Fugro and CGG Veritas had been invited to bid for the survey of 14,000 square km, expected to be worth up to $200 million.

Aramco is planning to start drilling in deeper offshore frontiers in 2012, Aramco’s chief executive Khalid al-Falih said in November.

Falih then specified that Aramco plans to explore for oil and gas in the deep waters of the Red Sea off its eastern coast.