Four of the biggest engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors operating in the Middle East have signalled that they are interested in bidding for a contract to build a planned $250m desalter train in Kuwait.

South Korea’s SK E&C, Italy’s Saipem, UK-based Petrofac, and India’s Larsen & Toubro have all purchased the tender documents for the project, according to industry sources.

“At this stage all these companies are definitely interested in bidding the project,” said one source. “Other companies could also end up bidding. One that might throw its hat into the ring is Tecnicas Reunidas.”

Tecnicas Reunidas is an EPC company based in Spain.

The client on the contract for the desalter project is state-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

KOC is planning to install the desalter train in four separate portions at the gathering centres known as GC-09, GC-10, GC-19 and GC-21.

A pre-tender meeting for contractors is due to take place on 14 January and the deadline for bid submission is 11 March.

Desalter units remove salt that is dissolved in the water mixed with the crude oil. Salts that are often present in crude oil include calcium, sodium and magnesium chlorides. If these compounds are not removed from the oil it can cause problems during the refining process, including the formation of corrosive hydrochloric acid and deposits that can block heat exchangers.

The companies prequalified to bid for the contract are:

• Daelim (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• KBR (US)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• SK E&C (South Korea)
• National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Daewoo E&C (South Korea)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)
• Fluor Corporation (US)
• Petrofac (UK)
• SNC Lavalin (Canada)