Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) is seeking a project management consultant (PMC) for its delayed deal for a new downstream complex at the Ruwais refinery in the west of the UAE.

No date has been set for the PMC deal, which covers the construction of the plants. Australia’s WorleyParsons has been the consultant for the design phase, says a source close to the project.

The company has also extended the closing date for technical proposals for the estimated $200m scheme. The deadline is now set for 5 February, with commercial submissions due a month later,

Bids which were due in early December for a carbon black plant, coker unit and hydrogen processing facilities, have been pushed back from the original October deadline and then again in November .

Contractors interested in the deal say the delays are due to ongoing technology licensing and design problems with the schemes, making it difficult to gauge when a likely firm deadline will be issued (MEED 11:11:11).

Nonetheless, at least six firms have expressed interest in bidding, out of the 14 firms prequalified. The bid list is dominated by South Korean firms:

• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)

A subsidiary of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), Takreer plans to build new downstream facilities at its Ruwais refining complex to process heavy-oil by-products from the main refining units and break them down into more marketable products.

According to MEED Projects, the company currently has an estimated $24bn-worth of projects planned or under way, including expansion of the Ruwais refinery to a total of 800,000 barrels a day (b/d) from 400,000 b/d currently.