The United Arab Emirates is days away from awarding the largest ever energy contract in the Middle East for the development of a nuclear power plant, industry sources said on Tuesday. The contract to build at least four reactors is expected to cost the world's third-largest oil producer as much as $40 billion, consultancy Eurasia Group said in a research note published in August.
The consortia from France, which includes nuclear group Areva, GdF Suez, and Total, is in pole position to win the contract, sources familiar with the negotiations said. "We think we are still well positioned to win it, we have the nuclear expertise," a source from the French group said.