State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has prequalified 12 companies for its New Strategic Gas Export Pipeline project.

 It has formally announced the list of contractors and said that the invitation to bid for the contract will be issued at some point after 7 June.

 The prequalified contractors are:

• JGC (Japan)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)
• Daelim (South Korea)
• Italy (Saipem)
• SK Engineering (South Korea)
• Larsen and Toubro (India)
• Daewoo Engineering and Construction (South Korea)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• National Petroleum Construction Company (UAE)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Kellogg Brown and Root (US)
• SNC Lavalin (Canada)

The pipeline will extent from North Kuwait to the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery and is expected to be worth $200m.

 The Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery is currently being overhauled as part of Kuwait’s Clean Fuels Project.

 In March, Kuwait’s Supreme Council for Planning and Development said that the $15bn megaproject was 85 per cent complete.

 The three main packages for the Clean Fuels Project were awarded in 2014 and will upgrade and expand Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah refinery as well as the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.

 State-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is the client for the project.