Saudi Arabia has granted additional time to one of the consortia hunting for gas in the vast desert in the country's southeast, an industry source said recently.

Siirtec Nigi has been awarded two contracts by Saipem to design and supply eight packages, each including Burner, Reaction Furnace, Steam Drum, Waste Heat Boiler, and 20 Sulphur Condensers.

Mott MacDonald has been appointed by BGR Energy systems to carry out detailed engineering and procurement support for the Akas and Al-Mansuria gas fields which are being developed by the State Company for Oil Projects.

The Yemen ministry of Oil and Minerals said recently it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kuwait Energy Company, an independent oil and gas exploration and production firm.

Iran has ditched a second Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project which was to be carried out by French energy giant Total, after a similar project with the Anglo-Dutch Shell was recently scrapped, reports Agence France Presse.