International engineering companies have submitted bids for three packages on Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company’s (PetroRabigh’s) clean fuels project in Saudi Arabia, according to sources familiar with the project.

PetroRabigh tendered the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages in October 2015.

The three packages are:

• Polyols production unit – capacity of 220,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of polyether polyols
• Naphtha processing unit – capacity of 17,000 barrels a day (b/d) of clean fuels
• Sulphur recovery unit – capacity of 106,000 t/y of sulphur

PetroRabigh previously said the contracts are expected to commence in the second half of 2016, after the bids have been received and assessed.

Polyols are alcohols with two main applications in industry: low-calorie sweeteners in food science; and in the production of polymers. The facilities will be built at PetroRabigh’s site in Rabigh in the Mecca province, on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) study for the scheme was carried out by UK-based Amec Foster Wheeler.