State-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is reviewing options for the integration of a petrochemical facility with the Al-Zour New Refinery Project after being presented with findings from an ongoing study conducted by KBC Advanced Technologies.

“KNPC has been presented with a number of findings from the KBC study and is now considering its options,” a source close to the scheme said. “The study is still very much at the feasibility stage.”

The source added that the study is likely to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.

Previously it was expected that the ongoing study would be completed within the first half of the year.

Contractors bidding on packages for the Al-Zour New Refinery Project have been warned by state downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) that plans may change in the execution phase due to the integration of the petrochemicals facility.

The timeframe for construction of the petrochemicals plant has yet to be decided, but it is likely to start one or two years after the completion of the refinery, according to sources close to the scheme.