State-owned Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (Kipic) has extended the deadline for contractors to submit prequalification documents for two big-ticket packages, for part of its $17bn-worth mega Al-Zour petrochemical complex.

The prequalification deadline for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for both the third olefins complex package and the aromatics 2 complex job, have been extended by two months to 22 November.

The previous deadline was 20 September.

Kipic will hold a pre-tender meeting for both the packages, estimated to be worth $4bn each, on 26 September.

The UK’s Wood Group is carrying out the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the project. Feed work for the planned petrochemicals plant was initially expected to be completed at the end of June 2018, but has been delayed.

Honeywell UOP was announced as the technology provider for the project in November.

The petrochemicals facility will be integrated with the $20bn New Refinery Project undertaken by Kipic in Al-Zour downstream complex. When completed, it will be the largest integrated refinery and petrochemicals plant in Kuwait.

It will produce aromatics and propylene and is a key part of Kuwait’s broader industrial strategy.

The petrochemicals project includes a 50,000 barrels a day (b/d) residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) complex with ethylene and propylene recovery, a 24,000 b/d gasoline desulphurisation unit and two units to treat propane for propylene production.

It will be capable of converting butane to isobutane and producing clean-fuels blending components including methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).

The facility will include a 66,000 b/d continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) platforming unit with a 74,000 b/d naphtha hydrotreater to make gasoline blend stock.

The aromatics complex will have the capacity to make 1.4 million tonnes of paraxylene a year.

A propane dehydrogenation unit will produce 660,000 tonnes a year of polymer-grade propylene.