ARC is aiming to shortlist eight companies and is due to issue a tender on 1 March. Contractors will be given a bidding period of at least 90 days. The expansion will increase the existing refining capacity by 24 per cent (MEED 4:11:05).

Estimated to be worth $350 million-400 million, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will involve the installation of a new continuous catalytic reformer (CCR) unit, naphtha and gas/oil hydrotreaters and an isomerisation unit, as well as increasing the capacity of topping units through the addition of a preflash tower. It will also entail utilities and offsites and infrastructure works.

The naphtha hydrotreater, CCR and light naphtha isomerisation unit will all utilise technology from France's Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP), as will the deep gas oil hydrotreater, which includes an amine treating section and a sour water stripping unit. The sulphur recovery plant will use technology from Germany's Lurgi.

The expansion is being carried out in three packages. About five companies - Siemens of Germany, the UK office of Europe's ABB, Japan's Yokogawa, the US' Invensys Process Systemsand Fischer-Rosemount, part of Emerson Process Management, also of the US- have applied for prequalification for the control systems package.

Bids are due to be submitted by 15 March for the estimated $200 million EPC contract, which covers the supply and installation of pneumatic control units, a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and related facilities (MEED 16:12:05).

For package 3, Denmark's COWIhas been awarded the four-year contract to oversee the construction of a fully protected harbour at the refinery (see Construction).

At a later stage, ARC plans a second-phase expansion covering a new residual catalytic cracker unit, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) facilities and a sulphur treatment plant. The Azzawiya refinery started operations in 1977.