The addition of an LNG terminal and petrochemicals facility to KNPC’s Al-Zour New Refinery Project (NRP) will see its total cost skyrocket from $13bn to around $39bn, according to a source close to the project.

The source told MEED that he understood the “entire complex will cost close to $39bn, when including LNG importing facilities and petrochemicals facilities”.

If estimates of $5-10bn for the petrochemicals facilities are accurate, the LNG terminal could cost in the region of $15bn to construct.

According to an industry source, tankage and a common area for pipelines would be located at Terminal 4 of the complexes, whilst other sections will be interconnected with these piping facilities. These piping facilities will be handled by the PMC, and are intended to run all the way to the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.

Around 10-15 per cent complete according an industry source, the Al-Zour Refinery Project in Kuwait is still in its infancy. One of the key activities to have taken place already is the preparation of the area on which the refinery will be situated, which needs to be compacted to handle such a complex. In addition to this site compaction, dredging activities are also occurring.

The highest-profile project under development by KNPC today, the 615,000-b/d Al-Zour refinery scheme was first announced in 2005. After years of delays and false starts, five engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth $13bn were signed in October 2015. The winners of packages one, two, three and five, worth a total of $11.5bn, were named on 28 July by Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee, but the final contract signing was made in October.