Five companies have bid for the FEED/PMC package on the olefins 11 complex. The bidders include Italy's Snamprogetti, Japan's Toyo Engineering Corporation, the UK office of Foster Wheelerand a European office of the Shaw Group.

Bids have already been submitted for the technology and EPC packages for the olefins 11 ethylene unit. Olefins 11 will include an ethane cracker with capacity of 1.2 million tonnes a year (t/y), two 300,000-t/y units for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE), a 700,000-t/y ethylene glycol unit and a 600,000-t/y styrene unit.

NPC is also preparing to push ahead with the olefins 12, even though IOC has only just started to assess its feasibility. In view of the three-year delay suffered at olefins 8 unit, while joint venture negotiations with the Royal Dutch/Shell Groupdragged on, NPC is reluctant to delay work further.

IOC's memorandum of understanding to come in on the world's biggest standalone ethylene plant is with London-based NPC International. However, NPC projects subsidiary Petrochemical Industries Development & Management Company (Pidmco)is now preparing an EPC tender for the ethylene unit and a separate tender for the offsites and utilities FEED, as well as the PMC covering the entire project.

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