Companies that have applied to prequalify for the work include South Korea's SK Corporation, Foster Wheeler Management Operationsof the US, Romania's Rompetrol, Japan's JGC Corporation, UK-based Petrofac Resources, with the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting, and Bahwan Engineering Companyand Al-Hassan Engineering, both local.

Contractors are also gearing up to submit bids on 1 July for the contract to build the $800 million-900 million refinery. Five groups have prequalified for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. They are JGC, with Chiyoda Corporation, also of Japan; South Korea's LG Engineering, with US-based Foster Wheeler Corporation; Paris-based Technip-Coflexip, with Samsung Corporationof South Korea; Toyo Engineering Corporationof Japan, with Hyundai Heavy Industries Company of South Korea; and Lurgiof Germany, with South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction, Galfar and Petrofac (MEED 1:3:02).