The JV was low bidder at KD 40.5 million ($140 million) when bids were submitted last summer. Four other companies priced the work, including the US/local team of ENGlobal Engineeringand Integral Services Company (Isco), and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, the second and third ranked bidders.

The scope of works covers the modernisation of control and instrumentation systems at the 56-year-old facility and related electro-mechanical works. Mina al-Ahmadi last went through a substantial modernisation programme in 1986, and the project is aimed at making control processes more efficient and improving safety at the refinery, which has nameplate capacity of 415,000 barrels a day. Fluor carried out the project's front-end engineering and design (FEED).

Atsco has also been selected for the KD 12.3 million ($42.4 million) contract to provide corrosion and scale monitoring and install an inhibitor injection package on gathering centre 14 in the southeast, for which it was also low bidder. Monitoring and sensor technology will be provided by the UK's Cormon. The client is state upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC - MEED 8:7:05).