Oil major Saudi Aramco will not release the tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts at its Ras Tanura refinery clean fuels and aromatics project until the third quarter of 2012.

The project in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has been prequalifying contractors for the packages, but tenders are still a few months away from being released.

“The tenders will go when the front-end engineering and design [feed] is completed, and that is likely to be August or September,” says a contracting source based in the Eastern Province. “There was supposed to be a fast-track feed, but that is not happening and it is on a regular timescale again.”

The US’ Jacobs Engineering is carrying out the feed and was not available for comment when contacted by MEED. The feed amounts to about 400,000 man-hours in total.

The scope of works for the scheme will include carrying out feed services for the inside and outside battery limits, as well as modifications to the refinery to bring it in line with environmental regulations. An aromatics cracker will also be added, which will allow for a far greater diversity of products being made at the plant. An estimated budget of about $2bn has been attached to the project.

At least three packages will be made available to contractors. There will be two packages for the process facilities, including an aromatics unit, plus offsites and utilities. Smaller packages such as civil works should also be available.

Aramco has been prequalifying contractors for the project. Prequalified contractors include:

• Chiyoda Corporation (Japan)
• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• GS Engineering and Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Petrofac (UK)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Sinopec (China)
• SK Engineering and Construction (South Korea)
• Technip (France)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

The Ras Tanura refinery is fully owned by Saudi Aramco and is the largest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, with a capacity of 550,000 barrels a day (b/d). The state-owned oil company is currently upgrading its domestic refining capacity to both lower the sulphur content of its downstream output, as well as to diversify the amount of refined products it produces.