New Target for Cost and Construction Start

Negotiations are still under way regarding the cost and are expected to
be finalised by the end of the year, but initial estimates hover around
the $3 billion mark. Bahrain and Qatar have already allocated a budget
of $500m to start the project.

Construction contacts were awarded to KBR, an engineering
company head-quartered in Houston, Texas, “to provide design, project
and construction management services for the Qatar-Bahrain road and rail marine crossing. Other groups involved include the Qatar and Bahrain Companies led by French construction major Vinci Construction and Company HOCHTIEF Construction AG and CCC and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company.

The Works Minister, Fahmi Al Jowder, said that Bahrain and Qatar have allocated a budget worth USD500million to begin the project. The discussions with the contractor will continue through the year.
The two countries are arranging for financing the project, and it will be shared between them. The work on the project will commence in 2010 and will take four and a half years for completion, he confirmed. A detailed design of the causeway, which incorporates a 13meter wide railroad bridge, is currently being developed. The rail road bridge will be constructed adjacent to the motorway bridge/embankments, which will be 25 meters wide, and will carry a dual carriage way both ways. The work will begin on the motorway, and then in 2012 the civil works will begin for the Railway Bridge, so as to be able to install the rail tracks later. The highest bridge at the Qatar side will be 40 meters and 27 meters at the Bahrain side. Mobilization work is in progress. The contractor has requested the two countries to allocate land on both sides for site works, Al Jowder explained.

Gas to Liquids Project

Gas-to Liquids (GTL) Projects

Qatar Petroleum is actively pursuing a number of world-scale gas-to-liquids conversion projects for the production of synthetic fuels and base oil stocks. The projects are all integrated with offshore development to supply the large amounts of gas needed for these projects. These are active business opportunities that are being pursued, but the status of each of the projects is still at the preliminary stage. A brief summary for each project is given.

Oryx GTL Project 100,000 bbl/day (expansion)
Pearl GTL 140,000 BPD
Sasol Chevron  120,000 BPD
ExxonMobil  150,000 BPD
Marathon 20,000 BPD
ConocoPhillips 80,000 BPD

Qatar Friendship Bridge Photos

Qatar/ Bahrain Causway

The Bahrain-Qatar bridge, at 40 kilometres long, will be the longest
bridge in the world, and it is estimated that it will take over four
years to complete. The cause way will begin in Raas Asheerj, close to
Al Zubara fort, and end in the North Askar area in Bahrain, and will
act as an extension to the King Fahd causeway that connects Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia.

Due to its length, the causeway will not consist of a single bridge but of a number of roads on a total of 14 km of dams connected by 22 of bridges and viaducts over deep water. This will include two 400-metre cable stayed bridges over shipping channels. There are also plans for a central island.

The initial projected costs were estimated at 2 billion US dollars.
However, a new plan to add a railway to the bridge is currently being
studied. These plans, if carried out, will add another 5 billion
dollars to the final cost.

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