The study looking into the possible integration of a petrochemical facility with the Al-Zour New Refinery is due to enter feasibility phase in May, after which it will continue for 3-4 months before concluding.

“Kuwait’s Petroleum Industries Company (PIC) is taking all the time they need before moving into feasibility phase,” a source close to the process said.

Originally it was expected that the study, which is being conducted by KBC Advanced Technologies, would be completed within the first half of 2015.

Kuwait announced that it had revived plans for the multibillion-dollar petrochemicals project called Olefins 3 in September 2014.

It said it would be integrating the facility with the 615,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) New Refinery Project (NRP), which is to be built in the Divided Zone that the country shares with Saudi Arabia.

If the project comes to fruition, it will significantly increase the country’s chemicals output and broaden the range of petrochemicals produced.

The low bids for the six unawarded packages that make up the Al-Zour New Refinery Project have come in $4.2bn over budget, stoking concerns the multibillion-dollar scheme may be re-tendered.

Speaking to MEED on 29 March a senior Kuwait National Petroleum Company official said a decision on whether the project will be retendered may be delayed to take into account the results of the integration feasibility study.