India’s Larsen & Toubro has withdrawn its low bid, worth $814m, to carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for a new pipeline for the $15bn New Refinery Project (NRP).

This means Dubai-based Dodsal, the second-lowest bidder for the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) contract, is likely to be awarded the deal.

“Technical negotiations were conducted with the three low bidders simultaneously,” said a source. “Technical negotiations are now over and it is expected that Dodsal will be awarded the contract within a month.”

Larsen & Toubro allowed its bid to expire after KOC took more than 90 days to make its decision.

It did not give a reason for allowing this to occur.

The original bidders list was:

• Larsen & Toubro (India) $814m
• Dodsal (Dubai) $922m
• Eni Saipem (Italy) $946m
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea) $959m
• Petrofac (UK) $1bn

The contract’s scope includes the construction of about 250 kilometres of oil feedstock pipelines that will serve the planned 615,00 barrel-a-day (b/d) greenfield Al-Zour New Refinery in southern Kuwait.

Plans for the refinery are currently in flux due to the announcement of the integration of a multibillion-dollar petrochemicals plant earlier in October.