The scope of works calls for the restoration of the second lube oil plant train to its full design capacity of about 50,000 barrels a day (b/d). It includes rehabilitation of propane de-asphalting units, vaccum distillation units, furfural units, methyl ethyl keton dewaxing units, lube hydro finishing units and blown asphalt units.

The client has stipulated that all equipment will be sourced from the US, Western Europe or Japan. Contractors can bid either on their own or as part of a joint venture.

Italy's Snamprogetticarried out the original front-end engineering and design (FEED). A team of Paris-based Technip, Italy's Technipetrol (TPL) and Prague-based TechnoExport (TEX)was the original main contractor.

NRC has also invited contractors to submit bids by 1 December for the LSTK contract to install new units for the production of hydro hard wax, while a tender to rehabilitate the refinery's heavy oil conversion units to their original capacity of 31,000 b/d is also expected to be issued by the end of the year.

Originally commissioned in 1987, Baiji is the only refinery in Iraq which processes heavy oil. The units were shut down after suffering damage during the 1990-91 Gulf war.