Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has invited companies to prequalify for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on a major sulphur handling facility.

The state-owned refiner asked interested companies to apply for prequalification by 30 May for the estimated $700m project at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, 45 kilometres south of Kuwait City.

At least 20 contractors had been invited to attend a meeting held by KNPC on 28 September 2011 to gauge interest in the project. However, the prequalification notice invites any company to apply.

The EPC tender follows front-end engineering design (feed) work on the sulphur handling facility, which was completed by Germany-based ThyssenKrupp in mid-September 2011.

KNPC planned the project to cater for future additional sulphur quantities from different sulphur extraction sites around Kuwait. The country’s three refineries currently produce a total of about 850,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of sulphur at present and KNPC’s parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), expects to raise sulphur output to 2 million t/y by 2015.

The scope of the project is to revamp of existing granulators, conveyors stackers, re-claimers and the ship loader and truck loader.

It also includes the installation of new granulators (5,000 tonnes a day), liquid storage tanks (14,880 tonnes), feed pumps, rectangular storage (145,000 tonnes), stacker/reclaimer, conveyor (1,500 tonnes an hour), ship loader, off-shore loading terminal (60,000 deadweight tonnes).

In addition, the project covers the upgrading of existing fire and gas detection systems, pollution control measures and electrical, instrumentation, civil and structural works.

The project is part of Kuwait’s preparation for receiving gas from the offshore Dorra field. Liquid sulphur will be granulated for easy handling and storage before being loaded on to ships for export.