Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company delays bidding on Ruwais plant

25 September 2009

Utility extends commercial bid deadline as it reviews future of power plant expansion

Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) is again extending the deadline for commercial bids on the third phase of its power plant expansion at Ruwais, this time to 29 October, while it assesses how to proceed with the scheme.

Takreer, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has also postponed the deadline for technical bids to 30 September.

The first bid deadline set for both commercial and technical bids was November 2008, but the company has since moved it back several times.

Contractors tell MEED they now expect further extensions to the deadlines and one source close to the project says Takreer may yet scrap the expansion of the power plant altogether.

One alternative to the Ruwais scheme being considered by Takreer is buying power from Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) via the Emirates National Grid. This would involve connecting Takreer’s refinery complex at Ruwais to the electricity network using a 400kV transmission line.

Takreer has prequalified three groups for the Ruwais scheme: France’s Alstom with Switzerland-based ABB; Germany’s Siemens and South Korea’s Samsung Corporation; and a consortium of the US’ GE with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries.

If Takreer proceeds with the project, the extension will give it 750MW of additional power capacity. The simple-cycle plant will serve Takreer’s refinery complex, which is due to expand significantly by 2014.

Germany’s Fichtner is the technical consultant on the power plant scheme.

The existing power and water plant at the site has seven gas and two steam turbines, with a total capacity of more than 650MW. It can also produce 13.2 million gallons a day (g/d) of desalinated water.

The plant is connected to the Adwea grid using a 220kV underground cable, which connects a 132kV substation at the plant to a 220kV substation operated by Abu Dhabi Transmission & Despatch Company (MEED 11:1:09).

ABB won a contract to build an interconnector linking the two substations in 2000. In 1998, the company also won a $600m contract for an earlier expansion of the Ruwais power plant.

Under that deal, it installed four gas turbines with a total capacity of 500MW and an 8 million-g/d desalination unit (MEED 3:4:98).

In June, MEED reported that Takreer had awarded the first deal on its Ruwais refinery expansion project to Dredging International of the Netherlands (MEED 21:6:09).

Takreer plans to bring on line 400,000 barrels a day (b/d) of refining capacity at the site by building the new refinery to operate alongside an existing 417,000-b/d facility.

The refinery will increase Abu Dhabi’s petroleum production by 2.7 million tonnes a year (t/y) to 5.3 million t/y, and will produce 1.1 million t/y of  propylene.

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