State-owned refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has awarded South Korea’s Daelim a $886m contract for a retendered deal to build a new gas fractionating column at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery in southern Kuwait.

Daelim received a letter of intent from KNPC on 8 June after receiving approval from Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee, which oversees the country’s contract award process. An officially signing ceremony  is expected in July.

The company had been in talks with KNPC since submitting the lowest price in early March for the retendered deal, beating proposals from Italy’s Saipem, GS Engineering & Construction; and SK Engineering & Construction, both of South Korea (MEED 7:3:10).

The contract had originally been awarded to SK Engineering & Construction in December 2007, but within months was terminated by KNPC after the state refiner failed to reach an agreement with SK over the size of the contractor’s payout. KNPC announced in September 2009 that it would retender the contract.

The winner of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal will build a fourth gas fractionation facility at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, approximately 45 kilometres south of Kuwait City. The unit will separate associated gas produced in the north and southeast of the country into its basic components.