Qatar Petroleum has released the tender to conduct a feasibility study for a petrochemicals facility in the Gulf state.

The tender for the Ras Laffan Aromatics project was released in March to international engineering consultancies.

“Clarification meetings have been taking place between the bidders and QP,” says a Qatari contracting source. “Early indications are that the scale of the planned project will be quite large.”

The bidders include:

• Bechtel (US)
• Fluor (US)
• Jacobs (US)

The study is due to last for 10 months and the while the configuration is not yet confirmed, the study will be looking at the viability of 1 million tonnes-a-year (t/y) of paraxylene, 500,000 t/y of benzene, 1-1.2 million t/y of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and 650,000 t/y of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Another oil and gas source says that QP is implementing the project alone, but is expected to bring in a partner when the full configuration and project timescale has been ratified.

The feedstock for the project will be naphtha from the Laffan refinery, which is due to undergo an expansion. The refinery will process condensate from the North Field into refined products, including naphtha, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene and gasoil.