Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) is pushing ahead with its plans to build a $500m lubricants refinery at its Ruwais complex by tendering construction and management contracts for the scheme.

The state oil refiner sent letters to international firms asking them to register their interest in the project management consultancy (PMC) contract to oversee the project on 29 December.

Senior executives say they have only been given until 31 December to let Takreer know if they are interested in the deal.

Separately, Takreer sent out bid documents to four firms for the deal to build the refinery on 20 December. The winner of the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) deal will build a 300,000-barrel-a-day base oils refinery. Taiwan’s China Technical Consultants Incorporated and South Korea’s Samsung Engineering are among the firms selected to bid on the construction deal.

Base oils are heavy grades of oil that are commonly used as industrial lubricants. Takreer currently blends the base oils into fuel oil, which it sells on the open market.

Abu Dhabi is a net importer of base oils, and Takreer wants to use the plant to meet domestic demand and turn the emirate into a net exporter.