State-refiner, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is expected make an award in July for the $500m-plus contract to build new sulphur-handling and ship-loading facilities at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.

KNPC is still in talks with the four bidders on the scheme. The clarification process is expected to be completed by early May. It will take another two to three weeks for approval from KNPC’s parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Central Tenders Committee (CTC), according to a source close to the project.

A letter of award could be issued at the end of May or early June with a contract signing set for July or August, says the source.

South Korea’s Daelim Industrial is the lowest bidder for the sulphur-handling scheme. Its price of $519m beat rival proposals from India’s Dodsal, and Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Engineering & Construction, both of South Korea.

The project covers the revamp of existing sulphur granulators, conveyors stackers and reclaimers, as well as ship and truck loaders.

It also includes the installation of new granulators (5,000 tonnes a day), liquid storage tanks (14,880 tonnes), feed pumps, rectangular storage (145,000 tonnes), stacker/reclaimer, conveyor (1,500 tonnes an hour), ship loader, and an offshore loading terminal (60,000 deadweight tonnes).