Kuwait has approved bids worth a total of $12 billion for major upgrades at two oil refineries, the state-run oil company told Reuters, in a sign it is moving ahead with large infrastructure projects.
The Clean Fuels Project is a specification upgrade and expansion of Kuwait’s largest refineries as part of the Gulf state’s economic development plan, which has faced delays partly due to political instability.
A consortium led by Japan’s JGC Corp won a tender for work worth $4.82 billion at the 460,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) Mina Ahmadi refinery, a Kuwait National Petroleum Company spokesman said, citing a decision from the country’s central tenders committee.
Britain’s Petrofac is expected to carry out work at the 270,000 bpd Mina Abdullah refinery, and US-based Fluor Corp will also work on Mina Abdullah after a bid of 962 million dinars, he said.
Contracts for the work are expected to be signed with the companies in April and construction work should begin shortly afterwards, the spokesman said.
Apart from the Clean Fuels Project, Kuwait also wants to build a new refinery called Al Zour and then shut its third, older 200,000 bpd Shuaiba refinery.
