Saudi Aramco has extended the deadline for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids on the main packages of its Ras Tanura refinery Clean Fuels Project, according to sources familiar with the scheme.

The deadline was extended to 17 July from a previous cut-off date of 11 May. International companies prequalified to bid on the two packages – covering the respective main process units, and offsites & utilities – in the second half of 2015.

State-owned oil group Saudi Aramco is understood to have awarded contracts to a local company to carry out the site preparation and early works at the project.

Aramco resurrected the estimated $3bn project after the long-awaited scheme was put on hold in January 2015 due to Aramco wanting to manage its cash flow and ring-fence more essential projects, industry sources told MEED.

US-based engineering group Jacobs was awarded the front-end engineering and design (feed) study and the project management study (PMC) related works on the project, it was revealed in August 2012.

The Ras Tanura refinery is fully owned by Saudi Aramco and is the largest downstream oil facility in Saudi Arabia, with a capacity of 550,000 barrels a day.