State-owned Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC) is scheduled to complete feasibility studies for two new plants in Kuwait, with an estimated cost of up to $15bn, by the end of the year.

US engineering firm Fluor is carrying out a study for Kuwait’s third cracker, known as Olefins 3, while Foster Wheeler, another US firm, is working on the feasibility of a $5bn aromatics plant, according to Nasser Alanezi, PIC’s corporate planning manager.

A decision on proceeding with the two schemes will follow in 2014, Alanezi told delegates at MEED’s Kuwait Projects 2013 conference on 25 November.

The $7bn-10bn Olefins 3 project will include the construction of a 1.4-million-tonne-a-year (t/y) mixed-feed cracker, along with derivative units for commodity and specialty chemicals. The plant’s startup is slated for 2019 or 2020.

PIC and its sister company, state-refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), are currently looking at the possibility of integrating the two projects into its planned 615,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) New Refinery at Al-Zour in the south of the country.

According to Alanezi, PIC aims to maximise the benefits of integrating the plants, with the New Refinery Project (NRP) supplying naphtha and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) feedstock, and reciprocating with hydrogen and pygas, which will be used by the refinery.

The planned product slated below is under review.

PIC is also planning a world-scale aromatics plant, which will produce paraxylene and benzene, using naphtha feedstock from KNPC. The project is currently in the pre-feasibility stage, with Foster Wheeler studying potential capacities and configurations. It is also expected to be commissioned in 2020.

PIC will use project financing for both schemes, following a pattern set in the construction of Olefins 1 and 2. However, the company is still undecided about a partner for the projects. Following the collapse of the K-Dow joint venture with US firm Dow Chemicals, selecting a partner may present some challenges.

“PIC was a leader in bringing partners to Kuwait. It is not a secret. PIC paid a big penalty. But part of our strategy is to carry out projects in partnership. We have been requested to assess whether we can proceed with or without a partner,” said Alanezi.

“If we can get a [technology] licence and can do it alone, then we will. But often you need a joint venture. Dow is still a partner in Kuwait. We will consider them and they are on the top of our list,” added Alanezi.