Algeria has invited companies to submit engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids for four downstream oil and petrochemicals projects worth up to $6bn, according to a media report.

News agency Reuters cited a source from state energy group Sonatrach saying the projects would be built at sites in Tiaret, Hassi Messaoud and Skikda and include a fuel oil cracking plant and a naphtha processing plant.

The report did not disclose a timeline for the EPC bids.

Algeria has made slow progress on refining projects over the last decade. Projects that were part of a government programme to add five new refineries worth a total of $14bn by 2017 remain at the pre-execution phase.

According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, Algeria has an estimated $17bn worth of refining and petrochemicals projects at the study and front-end engineering & design (feed) phases.

Sonatrach refining projects at the planning phases include new refineries at Ghardaia, Tiaret, Hassi Messaoud, Skikda and Biskra.

Earlier this month Versalis, the chemicals arm of Italian energy group Eni, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sonatrach to build a petrochemicals complex in Algeria.