There were six contracts with an estimated value exceeding $1bn during April. Most were awarded in Kuwait where State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) signed more than $12bn-worth of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the long-awaited Clean Fuels Project (CFP) to upgrade the country’s refineries.

The CFP will increase refining capacity at the Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries to 800,000 barrels a day (b/d) from 730,000 b/d currently, while also retiring the older 200,000-b/d Shuaiba refinery.

A joint venture of Samsung Engineering, the UK’s Petrofac and the US’ CB&I Lummus was awarded the Mina Abdullah 1 package.

A team of South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), also from South Korea, and US-based Fluor secured the Mina Abdullah 2 package.

A joint venture of Japan’s JGC Corporation, South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction and SK Engineering & Construction was awarded the Mina al-Ahmadi package.

In Iraq, the Oil Ministry signed a $6.04bn contract with a consortium of four South Korean firms for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a new 140,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery at Karbala in the south of the country. The winning consortium comprises Hyundai Engineering & Construction, GS Engineering & Construction, SK Engineering & Construction and Hyundai Engineering.

Egypt’s privately owned Carbon Holdings has awarded a contract to a consortium of Italy’s Maire Tecnimont Group and Netherlands-based Archirodon Group for work on its $5bn-plus Tahrir Petrochemicals Complex.

The deal covers engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) activities for the project’s utilities and offsite facilities.

The other $1bn-plus award was made in Abu Dhabi, where a consortium of South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction and UAE-based Dodsal secured an EPC contract for the development of the emirate’s onshore Rumaitha and Shanayel oil fields.