Bid documents are due to be released in the next few days for the $300m-400m Arzew scheme, which covers the upgrade of process units and the installation of isomerisation units to increase refining capacity by 1 million t/y, or 20,000 b/d.

Three groups submitted technical bids at the end of March for the EPC contract. They are Samsung Engineering Company of South Korea, Spain’s TR and a South Korean consortium of Hanwha Engineering & Construction and South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering Company. Commercial bids are likely to be submitted within four weeks of the commercial documents being issued (MEED 25:4:08).

Bid documents for the second, larger, project to expand the Skikda refinery, which involves the rehabilitation of existing units and the installation of several new units including a benzene recovery plant and a paraxylene production facility, will be issued in September.

Five contractors submitted technical bids in April for the contract. They are Hyundai, Samsung, Italy’s Saipem, Paris-based Technip, and TR. Commercial bid opening of the estimated $1bn contract is likely to take place in October.