Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries Company (DRPIC) has extended the deadline to prequalify for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender for the proposed new refinery in Duqm, Oman.

Companies have been asked to submit prequalification documents by 12 March as opposed to the initial 15 February deadline.

DRPIC, a 50:50 joint venture of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Industries Company (Ipic) and Oman Oil Company (OOC), is planning to build a new 230,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery in the Al-Wusta governorate on the sultanate’s central coast.

MEED revealed in March 2014 that Switzerland-based Foster Wheeler had been awarded the front-end engineering and design (feed) contract for the project.

Site preparation work is expected to start in the first quarter of 2015 and be completed in the first quarter of 2016. This will lay the groundwork to start the construction of the refinery in 2016.