Dutch dredging firm Boskalis has submitted the lowest bid for a deal to carry out site preparations for Kuwait’s planned $15bn New Refinery Project (NRP) at Al-Zour in the south of the country.

Bids were submitted on 24 November to the Central Tenders Committee (CTC), with Boskalis emerging as the low bidder, according to sources close to the scheme.

The project has a budget of KD220m ($778m).

The other bidders and prices were not revealed. Six international dredging companies were prequalified to bid in May for the preparatory works for state refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).

These are:

• Boskalis Westminster (Netherlands)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
• Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors (Netherlands)
• Penta Ocean Construction Company (Japan)
• Dredging International (Belgium)
• Jan De Nul (Belgium)

KNPC plans to build a 615,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery on sites to the west and north of the existing Al-Zour power station, covering an area of 16.2 million square metres. It will produce low sulphur fuel oil to replace the high sulphur fuel used in Kuwait’s power plants.

The scope will cover offshore dredging work and the backfilling of about 60 million cubic metres. However, due to weak ground conditions at the site, it will be necessary to remediate the soil using large quantities of fill and to raise the rough grade above the water table. The project will level and reinforce the site to prevent the invasion of seawater.

A contract is expected to be awarded in January 2014, with the scheme due to be completed by May 2016. The NRP’s main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages are expected to be tendered before April 2014, with commissioning slated for early 2019.