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Qatar Petroleum is expected to invite bids for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for multi-billion dollar Al-Shaheen refinery project in October, according to a senior official close to the project.
“The owners of the projects want to issue the instructions of the EPC to bidders in the month of October,” said the source in an interview with ArabianOilandGas.com.
“They will award the contracts in March 2010,” he added.
The project was put under review last March in a bid by the state-owned hydrocarbons giant to trim construction costs. The budget for the Al-Shaheen refinery had ballooned to US$13 billion, recent reports suggest that QP is confident that it can get this below $10 billion.
Technip Abu Dhabi was awarded the FEED contract for the project in August 2007 and took 12 months to complete.
Qatar Petroleum then announced it was reconsidering the scheme, according to the source.
Many major energy companies have revised plans for new projects due to the lower oil price and falling demand, but also in view of cheaper costs for raw materials.
The Al-Shaheen grassroots refinery will be located at Mesaieed Industrial City in the Qatar. With a capacity of 250,000 bpd and will produce high quality products, mainly gasoline, diesel oil and jet fuel and other hydrocarbon derivatives.
Feedstock for the refinery will be sourced from the offshore Al-Shaheen field. The project is expected to be completed by 2014.
