State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has tendered the last remaining package for its $8.5bn gasification project at Jizan, in the southwest of Saudi Arabia.

The tender is for the air-separation unit (ASU)/oxygen supply package is being issued with a choice of two contracting models. It is being offered on both a build-own-operate (BOO) and design-build-operate (DBO) basis.

The date for submissions has been extended twice and it now set for 30 June. The package for the unit was initially going to be released on a lump-sum turnkey (LSTK), engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, but this was changed to build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT). This was then changed to the current format.

“There was some reluctance to BOOT because Jizan is a remote region,” says a source familiar with the contract. “This is why the contract model has been modified slightly.” 

The package is being offered to industrial gas supply specialists such as France’s Air Liquide, Germany’s Linde and the US’ Air Products.

MEED reported in late May that China Harbour Arabia has been awarded the water intake package in a deal worth about $600m.

Other contract awards include Italy’s Saipem, which is responsible for the gasification and sulphur recovery unit packages; Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas, which has been awarded the offsites and utilities; and China’s Sepco III, which will be building the power plant. 

Aramco is investing at least $15bn in Jizan with the firm building a 400,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery and the 2,400MW integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant.