Algeria’s national oil and gas company Sonatrach is aiming to tender the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the $2.5bn Hassi Messaoud refinery before the end of the first quarter of 2018, according to industry sources.

“This project has momentum and we are expecting the contract to be tendered sometime soon,” said one source.

Prequalification documents were submitted by international contractors in April. Companies which submitted prequalification documents include:

• JGC Corporation
• GS Engineering and Construction
• Maire Tecnimont

The Hassi Messaoud refinery is one of a series of five new refineries that were part of a single scheme announced by the Algerian government in 2013.

Under the original plans, each of the refineries was expected to have a capacity of between 60,000 and 100,000 barrels a day and a budget of $2-3bn.

In February last year, Sonatrach announced that it had awarded the design contract for three of the refineries, including the Hassi Messaoud refinery, to UK-based Amec Foster Wheeler’s division in Italy.

The other two refineries are due to be built at at Tiaret in the northwest, at Biskra in the northeast.

Sonatrach decided that a single company would be asked to undertake the design work for all three refineries as they will all be designed to similar specifications.

Amec Foster Wheeler has since been acquired by UK-based Wood Group.

The refineries are intended to supply refined products to the domestic market, replacing imports.