Saipem consortium secures $1.57bn Kuwait’s oil refinery contract

A consortium comprising of Italy-based Saipem and Isar Energy has secured a new $1.57bn contract to work on the proposed Al-Zour oil refinery in Kuwait.

State news agency KUNA quoted Kuwait National Petroleum (KNPC) spokesman Khalid al-Asousi saying that the offer from the consortium was lowest bid for the project.

Work on the project is expected to be completed in 45 months.

In July, KNPC awarded contracts worth $11.5bn to build the refinery which is expected to have a capacity of 615,000 barrel-per-day, Reuters reported.

One of them was a KWD454m ($1.5bn) contract awarded to a consortium consisting of Saipem, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, as well as SK Engineering and Construction for the construction of a marine export terminal.

According to Asousi, the paper work for the remaining contracts is continuing and will be signed in October.

Initially, KNPC planned to build the Al Zour refinery in May 2008 but cancelled its construction in March 2008 due to political opposition.

The government has re-approved construction after two years and the company hopes to complete the project in 2017.

In May 2008, KNPC awarded a contract to a consortium of Japan’s JGC and South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction to install six distillation and atmospheric residue desulphurisation units, and diesel, naphtha, in addition to kerosene hydrotreating plants.

So far, KNPC has awarded $14bn worth of contracts for the construction of refinery.