Swiber front-runner for India turnkey job

Singapore

Singapore-listed Swiber Holdings has emerged as the front-runner for a contract with India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for the turnkey delivery of offshore structures tied to the US$435 million Neelam redevelopment project off India's west coast.

Swiber, in partnership with Indonesia-based Gunanusa Utama Fabricators, is said to have submitted the lowest bid of US$218 million for the contract. The bid price from the partners falls within the US$244 million budget ONGC has set aside for the contract, sources said, although the pair led by a narrow margin of just US$2 million over the runner-up in the contest - a joint submission from Malaysia's conglomerate SapuraKencana Petroleum and Vietnam's PTSC Construction. The US$2 million difference between the top two bidders means SapuraKencana-PTSC is still very much in contention for the contract should…