March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Amec Plc, the world's third-biggest engineering-design company, said it has won its first contract to manage Kuwait oil and gas field projects, which are valued at $5 billion, according to a statement on its Web Site.

The contract is worth as much as $300 million, Upstream, an industry newsletter, reported on its Web Site, citing industry sources. Amec did not give a value. The five-year contract with Kuwait Oil Co., which includes an option to extend for two years, will give U.K.-based Amec management of oil and gas fields in the south of the country, the company statement said.

``This win endorses our expertise in oil and gas, project management and the Middle East, where we already have extensive operations,'' said Peter Mason, Amec's chief executive.

This is the first oil-field management contract awarded in Kuwait to a company not from the U.S. Previously, companies such as Parsons Corp. and Bechtel group Inc. held the Kuwaiti contract. Amec will also provide infrastructure support to Kuwait Oil and the contract is expected to involve as many as 160 people working for Amec in Kuwait and as many as 80 people in the U.K.

Amec, which has 45,000 employees in over 40 countries, originated in 1848 as a London leadmaker. It increased 2003 second-half profit more than fivefold after it acquired the 54 percent stake it didn't own in France's Spie SA to expand its rail-engineering business, it said earlier this month.

In the Middle East, Amec managed infrastructure projects in Iraq and a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait Oil Co. is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the country's state oil company.

Go to http://www.amec.com for the company's Web Site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lawrence Yong in Singapore at lyong3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 29, 2004 23:26 EST