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Kuwait is continuing with feasibility studies for the planned $10bn Al-Zour petrochemicals complex, according to Nawaf al-Sabah, the deputy chairman and chief executive of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

The company has not made a final investment decision (FID) for the project and has not revealed a schedule for when the project will be approved and tendered.

“We are still studying [the project],” said Al-Sabah. “We haven’t yet taken FID on it.

“We are looking at all of the economic impacts of both the state and the outlook on prices and the outlook on what the mix should probably be.

“We’ll take a decision on it when we are ready to [decide].”

The fact that KPC is conducting more feasibility studies looking at what products the facility should produce is likely to exacerbate concerns that a radical overhaul of the project is being considered. That would lead to long delays before the main contracts are tendered.

The project was first announced in 2006 and has been delayed.

In January, MEED reported that US-based engineering company Fluor and South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction had withdrawn from the bidding process for the project.

The client on the project is KPC’s subsidiary Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (Kipic).

The subsidiary prequalified bidders for the planned petrochemicals complex in April 2021.

Kipic published a list of bidders eligible to bid on the three main packages of the project, which is also referred to as the Petrochemical Refinery Integration Al-Zour Project (Prize).

The original list of the seven groups prequalified to bid for packages one and two comprised:

• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain) / Sinopec Engineering Company (China)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea) / CTCI Corporation (Taiwan) / Consolidated Contractors Company (Lebanon)
• Fluor (US) / Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation
• Saipem (Italy) / Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Technip Energies (France)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Petrofac (UK)
• JGC Corporation (Japan)

The scope of package one includes gasoline and olefins units. It is estimated to be worth $4bn and is also known as Gasoline EPC package 5011.

The scope of package two includes aromatics units. It is also known as Petrochemical EPC package 5012.

Package three, coded Marine EPC package 5013, covers the building of port and export facilities and onshore and offshore pipelines.

Originally, four groups prequalified to bid for package three, estimated to be worth $1.5bn:

• China Harbour Engineering Company (China) / Saipem (Italy)
• SK Engineering & Construction Company (South Korea) / Larsen & Toubro Hydrocarbon Engineering (India)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company (South Korea) / Hyundai Engineering Company (South Korea)
• Eiffage Genie Civil Marine (France) / Afcon Infrastructure (India) / Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company (South Korea)

The planned petrochemicals complex will be integrated with the Al-Zour Refinery, which has a nameplate capacity of 615,000 barrels a day (b/d). It is expected to complete commissioning in the near future.

In November last year, KPC sold its first international shipments of naphtha, jet fuel and low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) cargo from the refinery.

In May 2019, state-owned Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC), another subsidiary of KPC, set out the country’s long-term petrochemicals strategy.

PIC said it aimed for Kuwait to achieve a “global, influential position in polyethylene, polypropylene and ethylene glycol”.

It also said that Kuwait’s investments in the petrochemical sectors would create “added value” from its national resources and create an industrial base that would help diversify its economy.