Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has received 17 bids on a tender for the procurement of long-lead items for the expansion of the Sohar refinery.

The contract was tendered on 24 December 2012 to prepare for the expansion project to increase the refinery’s capacity by 60 per cent to 187,000 barrels a day (b/d) from the current throughput of 116,000 b/d.

Long-lead items are equipment, products or systems that are identified at the earliest stage of a project and so their procurement does delay the development at a later stage.

Orpic has extended the deadline for engineering, procurement and construction bids on the Sohar refinery expansion. Prequalified companies have been asked to submit bids on 20 May.