A consortium led by South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) has submitted a low bid of $1.55bn for the marine package of the Al-Zour New Refinery Project, known as package five. The other companies in the consortium are Italy’s Saipem and India’s Essar.

The full list of bids is:

• Hyundai E&C / Saipem / Essar, KD454m ($1.55bn)
• GS Engineering and Construction (South Korea), KD459m ($1.56bn)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea), KD720m ($2.45bn)

Three other prequalified bidders did not submit a final price. These were South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction, McDermott International of the US, and a consortium of the UK’s Petrofac and Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea.

The estimated budget for the package was $850m.

The contract is scheduled to be awarded in early May, but there may be delays due to the low bid coming in at nearly double the estimated budget.

If the Hyundai E&C consortium is awarded the package five contract it will be responsible for constructing the following:

• Pile-supported pier for berthing of a single vessel with equipment for loading and shipping operations
• Sulphur pelletising and conveying system, including conveyer units and circular storage tanks with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes
• Subsea outfall lines
• Construction dock for offloading heavy lift items
• Offshore sea island located at a depth of 20 metres, about 17.5 kilometres from shore. This will be a piled structure capable of berthing four liquid tankers and loading liquid products through marine loading arms. It also consists of metering systems, a vapour recovery system, power and utility generation, crew accommodations, a control and observation building, mooring and navigation monitoring systems, communications systems, small boat landing, helipad, emergency escape craft and other infrastructure
• Small boat harbour with a sheltered approach, a fuelling depot and berthing areas for support craft