Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) has let a series of contracts to groups of oil and gas service providers to build the planned 615,000-b/d Al-Zour refinery complex in southern Kuwait as part of the company’s Clean Fuels Project (CFP) (OGJ Online, July 1, 2011).
KNPC officially awarded four contract packages worth an estimated $11.5 billion for the grassroots refinery on July 28, with a fifth contract package due to be awarded in the coming weeks, the state-run company confirmed in a series of posts to its social media accounts.
KNPC let a $4.1 billion lump-sum turnkey contract to a consortium of Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas SA, China’s Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co. Ltd., and Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corp. of South Korea to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning for main processing units at the plant, Tecnicas Reunidas said.
The consortium’s scope of work under the contract, which is to last 45 months, includes delivery of services for the following:
• 3 crude distillation units, each with a processing capacity of 210,000 b/d.
• 3 atmospheric residue desulfurization units, each with a processing capacity of 110,000 b/d.
• 3 diesel hydrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 62,000 b/d.
• 2 naphtha hyrdrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 18,200 b/d.
• 2 kerosene hydrotreating units, each with a processing capacity of 53,000 b/d.
• An 8,500-b/d saturated gas unit.
• A heavy oil cooling unit.
KNPC let two additional contract packages with a combined value of about $5.75 billion to a joint venture of Fluor Corp., Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. for delivery of engineering, procurement, and construction on associated units and infrastructure necessary for the project, Daewoo said.
This latest contract to the Daewoo-Fluor-Hyundai consortium follows KNPC’s previous award of a $3.4-billion contract to the venture to design, construct, and commission a second phase of the Mina Abdullah refinery in southern Kuwait as part of the CFP (OGJ Online, Feb. 19, 2014).
KNPC let a fourth contract package worth $1.5 billion to a consortium of South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd., SK Engineering & Construction, and Italy’s Saipem SPA to provide EPC services on an associated marine export terminal at the refinery, KNPC said.
Since announcing the greenfield refinery, KNPC has let several contracts for the Al-Zour plant (OGJ Online, Mar. 13, 2014; Dec. 3, 2013; Dec. 4, 2012).
The Al-Zour refinery, which will become the largest in the Middle East upon completion, has a current overall investment cost of about $13 billion, Tecnicas Reunidas reported.
Under the CFP, KNPC plans to integrate and upgrade the 270,000-b/d Mina Abdullah and 466,000-b/d Mina Al Ahmadi refineries and ultimately close the 200,000-b/d refinery at Shuaiba once construction is completed on the Al Zour plant (OGJ Online, Mar. 5, 2015).
The newly integrated refineries will operate as a merchant complex with total capacity of about 800,000 b/d.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
