DUBAI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell and U.S. Occidental Petroleum are the front-runners to win a multibillion-dollar project to develop sour gas reserves in the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said on Thursday.

The project is one of the biggest this year available to international companies competing for limited access to the Middle East’s oil and gas fields.

“Shell and Oxy are still in the race,” said one industry source. “They’re in a sort of final within a final.”

Shell and Oxy have the edge over the other two bidders for the project, U.S. majors Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, sources said.