A tender is expected to be issued imminently for the estimated $800 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract covering the construction of the 450,000-tonne-a-year (t/y) PP plant. The deadline for the submission of technical bids is scheduled for mid-February. Commercial proposals will be submitted a month later.

Companies invited to bid are expected to include Uhdeand Linde, both of Germany, Italy's Snamprogettiand South Korea's Samsung Engineering Company. Oslo-based Aker Kvaerneris the project management consultant (PMC). The PP technology has been licensed from the US' Dow Chemical Company.

A tender is expected to be issued by the end of the first quarter for the contract to build the olefins conversion unit (OCU), which will provide the majority of the feedstock for the PP facility. Among the companies expected to be invited to bid are Japan's Toyo Corporation, Taiwan-based CTCIand US-based ABBLummusGlobal, which is also the olefins conversion technology provider (MEED 18:11:05).