China’s Sinopec has submitted the lowest bid to build sulphur treatment facilities at Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi refinery ahead of three other bidders.

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) received engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) proposals on 11 October after extending the bid deadline four times.

The bidders are:

• Sinopec (China) – $59m
• Gulf Spic General Trading & Contracting Company (Kuwait) – $98m
• Saipem (Italy) – $108m
• Heisco (Kuwait) – $110m

KNPC had tendered the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in late April, setting an initial bid deadline for 19 June.

The work will include building:

• Liquid sulphur storage tanks
• Liquid sulphur feed pumps
• Granulator units
• A belt conveyor system
• A longitudinal stockyard for solid sulphur
• A stacking machine
• A reclaiming machine
• A ship loader
• Associated facilities

The new scheme is connected to a previous contract to upgrade solid sulphur-handling and ship-loading facilities at Mina al-Ahmadi, which was won by South Korea’s Daelim in 2013. The contract won by Daelim had a value of $519m.