Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) plans to issue tenders in May for its planned $12bn New Refinery Project (NRP), according to a senior executive at the state-owned energy firm.

“We will invite bids for the new refinery project in May,” KPC CEO Nizar al-Adsani told reporters on the sidelines of the Gulf Petroleum Forum in Kuwait on 7 April.

The new refinery is key to the country’s hopes of meeting growing power demand. The 615,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) facility will supply 225,000 b/d of low-sulphur fuel oil for power generation.

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have had a long wait for the retender of the refining megaproject, which has been tendered twice before, only to be awarded and cancelled before construction could begin.

KPC has already announced its selection of several EPC groups to bid on two of the scheme’s packages. However, it has not announced a list of prequalified firms for the refinery’s main process plants or the offsites and utilities package, despite applications being submitted almost a year previous.