State oil major Saudi Aramco is considering establishing its under-construction Jizan power plant as an independent power project (IPP).

According to sources in the kingdom’s power sector, Aramco has appointed advisers to work on feasibility studies for structuring an IPP model for the 2,400MW plant. The combined-cycle power plant is part of the larger integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) scheme at the Jizan Economic City development in the southwest of the kingdom.

Technical consultants recently submitted bids for structuring the scheme as an IPP, with the bids currently under evaluation, according to sources close to the scheme.

There has also been some reported interested from Marafiq, the utility company for Jubail and Yanbu, in buying the Jizan power assets from Aramco before moving ahead with the scheme as an IPP. However, according to sources familiar with the scheme, Marafiq’s interest is just speculative at the moment.

MEED reported in June 2014 that Aramco had awarded Chinese contractor Sepco the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build and commission the IGCC project. 

In August 2013, Aramco awarded Germany’s Siemens a contract to provide gas turbines, generators and heat steam generators.

The plant had originally planned to have a capacity of 4,000MW, but the scope was revised down due to cuts in the budget for the scheme.