Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) have announced awarding US engineering firm KBR a contract to provide front-end engineering and design (Feed) and project management consultancy (PMC) services for its mega crude oil-to-chemicals complex (COTC) in Saudi Arabia.

This is the second Feed and PMC contract the two project operators have awarded for the COTC project estimated to cost around $20-25bn.

The statement did not mention the value of the contract.

In March Aramco and Sabic awarded the UK’s Wood Group the first Feed and PMC contract for the project, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s UK tour.

MEED understands that the partners decided in favour of having a second firm manage the Feed and PMC aspects considering the size and complexity of the project.

KBR was one of the original bidders for the contract, which was eventually awarded to Wood.

In November 2017, state energy giant Aramco and Sabic, the world’s fourth-biggest petrochemicals company, signed a deal to build a chemicals complex to convert 45 per cent of crude oil to chemicals directly.

The project is deemed to be the largest crude-to-chemicals facility in the world and the first in Saudi Arabia, and is expected to be completed by 2025.