State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC’s) Higher Tenders Committee has approved the retender of the $800m Al-Zour feed pipeline, moving the scheme one step closer to being relaunched.

Approval from Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) is still required before the retender can be officially issued.

The CTC is expected to discuss the project on 13 September.

The retender has seen delays due to disagreements over which companies should be eligible to bid for the contract.

According to industry sources, the following contractors have already been invited to participate:

• Saipem (Italy)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (Athens-based)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Technicas Reunidas (Spain)

The Higher Tenders Committee has also given approval for India’s Larsen & Toubro, Dubai-based Dodsal and the UK’s Petrofac to bid on the project.

It is not known whether these companies will be given the green light by the CTC.

Industry sources say there are concerns that both Petrofac and Dodsal may not have the capacity to take on the scheme due to the amount of contracts they have already won in Kuwait and are now executing.

According to sources, Larsen & Toubro may not be asked to submit a bid because it allowed its bid bond to expire in October 2014, effectively withdrawing from the tender process.

The contract’s scope includes the construction of about 250 kilometres of oil feedstock pipelines, which will serve the planned 615,00 barrel-a-day (b/d) greenfield Al-Zour new refinery in southern Kuwait.