Saudi Aramco has released the tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages for the planned $7bn Jizan Refinery Project in the south of Saudi Arabia.

A total of nine packages have been released to international EPC contractors for the scheme which involves the construction of a 400,000 barrels-a-day refinery and associated facilities. Another two smaller packages covering site preparation and civil works will be offered to local construction contractors.  

The nine packages being tendered are:

• Crude distillation unit and vacuum distillation unit
• Hydrocracker
• Diesel hydrotreater
• Marine terminal facilities
• Naphtha and aromatics, which Includes:
  Naphtha hydrotreater
  Reformer/catalyst regeneration reformers
  Isomerisation
  Paraxylene complex
  Benzene extraction unit
• Sulphur recovery unit/amine treating unit
• Two tank farms
• Utilities

The closing dates for the packages have been set for mid-August with most submission dates expected around August 14.  The prequalification process for contractors wanting to bid on any of the packages is now complete.

“There has been a few surprises on the prequalified list and four contractors have been prequalified to bid on all the packages,” says a contracting source based in Saudi Arabia. “There is a big South Korean contingent so every bidder is expecting the usual aggressive commercial bidding.”  

The four contractors prequalified for all 9 packages at Jizan include:

• Daelim Industrial (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Saipem (Italy)
• SK Engineering (South Korea)  

Other contractors prequalified for the Jizan project include:

• CB&I (US)
• Chiyoda (Japan)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)
• Petrofac(UK)
• Petrol Steel (local/Singapore)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)

MEED reported in March that packages on the Jizan scheme will be offered on an in-kingdom and out-of-kingdom basis, meaning that some of the work can be carried out overseas by companies who are not fully registered to work in Saudi Arabia. Aramco has scheduled site visits for out-of-kingdom contractors on 13 May and in-kingdom contractors on 14 May.

Due to the distance between the oil fields and Jizan, crude and the subsequent refined products will not be transferred by pipeline, but will enter and leave exclusively through the marine terminal.