State downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has sent letters requesting that bidders on packages four and five of the Al-Zour New Refinery Project extend or confirm the validity of their bid bonds.

Participating bidders on package four have extended their bid bonds up to 3 June 2015.

Bidders on package five will extend their bid bonds up to 4 May 2015.

Companies that submitted bids for packages one, two and three do not yet need to extend their bid bonds, as the closing date for bids was 8 March and the original bid bond will be valid for three months.

Industry sources say that Italy’s Saipem has allowed its bid bond for package four to expire.

Saipem was the low bidder on the project and the expiration of its bid bond has prompted speculation that KNPC will retender the package.

South Korea’s Daelimand Daewoo had already renewed their bid bond for package four, as has the consortium of the UK’s Petrofac and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Saipem’s bid of KD406.9m ($1.35bn) was KD96.5m less than the second-lowest bidder, Daelim.

The full bidder list for package four is:

• Saipem (Italy) / Essar (India), KD406,905,688
• Daelim (South Korea), KD503,437,332
• Daewoo (South Korea), KD560,825,709
• Petrofac (UK) / Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea), KD623,319,246

The letter requesting that bid bonds are renewed for package five was only recently issued, according to industry sources.

“KNPC sent letters to those who participated in bidding on packages four and five and asked them to confirm or extend the validity of their bid bonds,” says one source. “For package five, KNPC has just sent out the request and contractors are starting to comply.”