Samsung was the low bidder for the engineering, procurement and construction contract, which is expected to be completed by May 2011 (MEED 28:4:08).

Samsung's bid of $314m was about 11 per cent lower than the next best offer of $349m made by by Spain's TR. JGC Corporation of Japan was the only other bidder, with a price of $359m.

The project calls for the routing of about 12,000 barrels a day of unconverted oil from the existing hydrocracker at the Bapco refinery to the unit, which will convert the feedstock to 400,000 tonnes-a-year of sulphur-free lube base oil, predominantly for export (MEED 13:1:06).

The US' Jacobs Engineering is the front-end engineering and design contractor.

The award caps a successful 18 months for Samsung, which has won more than $2bn worth of contracts in the region in that time.

Its successful bids include two major plant contracts for Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company in Jubail, the world's largest single-train ammonia plant for Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), and the world's largest olefins conversion unit for Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge).