Kuwait awards $12bn clean fuels project
JGC Corp, Fluor and Petrofec bids approved
KUWAIT: Kuwait National Petroleum Co said yesterday it has awarded a $12-billion project to British, US and Japanese-led consortia to boost capacity at oil refineries and make production more environmentally friendly. Work on the three-part project for KNPC to upgrade refineries while reducing sulphur and carbon pollutants is expected to start in April and be completed in five years. The Mina Abdullah I project was awarded to a consortium led by Britain’s Petrofac at $3.8 billion, Mina Abdullah II to US Fluor-led consortium for $3.4 billion, while Mina Al-Ahmadi went to Japan’s JGC Corp-led consortium for $4.8 billion, KNPC spokesman Khaled Al-Assousi told AFP.
Assousi said he expected the contracts to be signed within the next six weeks and work to commence in April. The current production capacity of the two refineries of Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah is around 730,000 barrels per day, while the capacity of Kuwait’s third refinery at Shuaiba is 200,000 bpd. At the end of the projects, the capacity of the two refineries will be raised to 800,000 bpd, while Kuwait plans to shut the third refinery. Kuwait awarded Foster Wheeler with the management and service contract for the clean fuels project in Dec 2012 in a deal worth around $500 million.
Kuwait is soon also expected to award contracts for the stateof-the-art Al-Zour refinery with a capacity of 615,000 bpd expected to come onstream after five years. Kuwait’s refining capacity will reach over 1.4 million bpd from the existing capacity of 930,000 bpd, when all the projects are completed. The plans have been repeatedly delayed because of political disputes between parliament and the government. The project to build a new refinery was scrapped by the government around five years ago, months after five Japanese and South Korean companies were awarded contracts. MPs had opposed the plan complaining of a lack of transparency in the tendering process. —-
KUWAIT: Kuwait is glowing these days with public landmark sites and buildings being adorned with national flags and colorful decoration ribbons marking the country’s national days.
The national occasions have prompted citi- zens, corporations and authorities to adorn buildings and houses with lights and other shining and colorful decoration items.
February has begun with onset of the annual festival, “Hala Febrayer (February),” which coincides with the Independence and Liberation Days.
The country is literally witnessing a carnival with simultaneous and coinciding celebratory ceremonies, cultural and artistic activities, held daily throughout the month, which also sees start of the spring blooming. — KUNA