Oman Refineries & Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) is expected to award the contract for the expansion of its Sohar refinery in mid-October, according to a source close to the bidding process.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is expected to go to Samsung Engineering, after the South Korean company was revealed to have submitted the lowest commercial bid of $1.89bn in September.

State-owned Orpic is expanding the capacity of the refinery in north Oman to 187,000 barrels a day (b/d) from 116,000 b/d to meet growing demand for fuel and petrochemicals feedstock.