Estimated to be worth $70 million, package 2 will involve the rehabilitation of the fifth crude distillation unit (CDU) at the refinery and the supply and installation of a flare gas unit and common pipe rack. The construction period will be 12 months.

The client is a team of the US' Fluor Danieland South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction.

In late July, Kharafi National, Kuwait Repair & Shipbuilding Companyand Al-Baddah Trading & Contracting Company, all local, were awarded contracts for the first package on the project. Estimated to be worth $20 million in total, the six-month contracts cover the demolition of the second CDU and the two reformer units. Two naphtha hydrotreater/ continuous catalytic reformer (CCR) units, each with a capacity of 180,000 barrels a day, will be built at the site of the second CDU (MEED 3:8:01).

The third package on the project will cover the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the new naphtha hydrotreater/CCR units. Tender documents for the estimated $200 million EPC contract are expected to be issued by early 2002. The UK office of the US' UOP is the licence provider for the new units.

The $310 million repair and upgrade of the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, which is operated by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), is divided into five packages. KNPC has appointed US-based Foster Wheeler Corporation as project management consultant for the scheme (MEED 2:2:01).