The new facility is similar to a design completed by COWI in 2000 and comprises five sheltered berths to serve LPG tankers of up to 5,000 dwt, product tankers up to 70,000 dwt and crude tankers up to 150,000 dwt. However, the location of the harbour has been moved about four kilometres east of the refinery.

The PMC contract includes evaluation of new harbour schemes, design of new breakwaters, a jetty with three berthing points, two piers, each with one berthing point, harbour infrastructure including buildings and roads, multiproduct pipelines, storage tanks, fire-fighting facilities and treatment facilities in the harbour area.

Bids for the PMC contract were also received from Royal Haskoning of the Netherlands, Denmark's Niras International and the UK office of Japan's Nippon Koei (MEED 16:9:05).

Construction is scheduled to start in early 2007 and will be carried out in phases under a single turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. A tender for the contract is anticipated in the third quarter of 2006.

ARC, a subsidiary of National Oil Corporation (NOC), is expected to issue in late January the tender for the estimated $350 million-400 million EPC contract to expand the 120,000-barrel-a-day refinery (see Oil & Gas).