Stone & Webster, part of the ShawGroup, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR)and ABB Lummus Global, all US-based, are competing for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)-plus-technology contract (MEED 18:3:05).

Tenders for the seven-nine downstream process unit and offsites and utilities packages are expected to be tendered once an award has been made on the cracker. Units will include a 250,000-t/y low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, two polypropylene (PP) units with total capacity of 600,000 t/y and a 700,000-t/y ethylene oxide unit (EO) - the world's largest.

PMD has yet to conclude a joint venture agreement with Houston-based WestlakeChemical Corporation, for which negotiations have been ongoing for several months. The US' Fluor Corporationis the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contractor and project management consultant (PMC). Arab Banking Corporation (ABC)is the financial adviser on the project (MEED 26:8:05).