Algerian oilfield developer First Calgary Petroleums and Sonatrach on Wednesday announced the completion of front-end engineering and design work for the gigantic MLE field, clearing the way for building contracts to be awarded.

With North American investors worried about a credit crunch, management went ahead in December and ordered a line-pipe tender, and the design work “identified” other long-lead items.

Meanwhile, five “world-class” contractors have “advised they are committed to bidding” for the engineering, procurement and construction work, or EPC. By mid-January, tenders will go out for compressors and turbo expanders.

The good draw of infrastructure-builders could help push down costs for a small but vastly experienced company backed up by the Algerian state champion Sonatrach and its new, long-term gas supply deals with Europe. First has issued big investors bonds that convert to shares to pay Phase 1 costs, and has yet to be mired in debt.

FCP managers said they breathed a sigh of relief when they learned capital costs of the MLE field would within the range they had budgeted for. Algeria sits on 14 percent of world gas supplies, although FCP’s approach to new Algerian oilfields has suggested a new scale for the size of the North African country’s natural wealth.

Tags: First Calgary Petroleums, Sonatrach