Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries Company has issued a preliminary information memorandum (PIM) to selected Asian and European export credit agencies (ECAs) for the financing of Oman’s third oil refinery.

The 230,000 barrel-a-day refinery is expected to be the largest project financing in the sultanate. Duqm Refinery is looking at all financing options including ECAs, international, regional and local commercial banks, Islamic options and capital markets.

Duqm Refinery received the final technical submissions from bidders for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages one and two, which cover the process units package and the utilities and offsites package. The technical evaluation is now completed and bidders have been invited to submit their commercial bids.

The bidders for the first package – covering oil processing facilities – are understood to include:

• CB&I (Netherlands-based) / CTCI (Taiwan)
• JGC (Japan) / GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Saipem (Italy)
• Petrofac (UK) / Samsung Engineering (South Korea) / Chiyoda (Japan)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain) / Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)

The second contract covers the facilities, utilities tankage and buildings that support the process. The bidders are understood to include:

• CB&I / CTCI
• Daelim (South Korea) / Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Hyundai Engineering (South Korea)
• JGC / GS Engineering & Construction / Saipem
• Petrofac / Samsung Engineering
• Tecnicas Reunidas / Daewoo Engineering & Construction

A tender has been sent to prequalified bidders for a third package covering offsite facilities. These consist of the product storage and export terminal, Crude storage tanks in Ras Markaz, and an 80 kilometre crude pipeline from Ras Markaz to the refinery complex.

Another package covering site preparation work has been completed. The work comprised the excavation and compaction of more than 12 million cubic metres of material.

Four engineering companies are vying for the project management consultancy (PMC) contract. They are:

• Amec Foster Wheeler (UK)
• Bechtel (US)
• KBR (US)
• Technip (France)

Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company is a joint venture of Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI).

The refinery is the largest single-phase downstream oil project ever undertaken in Oman, and is a key development of the government’s plans to establish Duqm as a regional energy and logistics hub.