Duqm Refinery has opened technical and commercial bids from four engineering companies vying for the project management consultancy (PMC) contract on its landmark oil project in Oman, according to industry sources.

Duqm Refinery, the company building a greenfield refinery in the central Oman port of Duqm, will assess the bids and is expected to award the contract in the coming months. The PMC contractor will oversee the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase of the project.

The four companies submitting PMC bids are:

• Amec Foster Wheeler (UK)
• Bechtel (US)
• KBR (US)
• Technip (France)

The planned 230,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery is the largest single-phase downstream oil project ever undertaken in Oman, and is a key development of the government’s plans to establish Duqm as a regional energy and logistics hub.

Duqm Refinery recently set a deadline for commercial bids on the project’s two main EPC packages. Consortiums have been asked to submit prices by 20 February.

Duqm Refinery is a joint venture of Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI),