Bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new oil refinery to be built in Multan have been submitted, industry sources say. Of the six prequalified companies, three have joined together to submit a single bid and one has bid individually.

Chiyoda Corporation of Japan, Germany's Kloeckner & Company and the UK's Foster Wheeler have submitted a joint bid. Japan's JGC Corporation is also understood to have submitted a bid. It is unclear whether France's Technip submitted a bid by the closing date, while Italy's Snamprogetti declined to offer a price.

The refinery, which is expected to cost about $750 million, is being built by the local Pak-Arab Refinery (Parco) which is 40 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company and 60 per cent owned by the government. Parco says that the award of the EPC contract is expected to be finalised in mid-1997. The project is scheduled for completion in 2000 (MEED 28:2:97).

The refinery will have a capacity of 100,000 barrels a day. It will produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a high octane blending component, motor gasoline, jet A-1, JP-4, kerosene, high speed diesel oil, light diesel oil, furnace oil and sulphur. UOP of the US carried out the engineering and design specification package and the UK's Babcock-King Wilkinson is project manager. ANZ Grindlays is the financial advisor and is to arrange about $600 million in debt finance, with an emphasis on export credits.