The bidders for the estimated $90 million alpha olefins contract are South Korea's Samsung Engineering Corporation, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industriesand Germany's Linde. A fourth prequalifier, Japan's Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Company, is not expected to bid. The plant, which will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes a year (t/y), is to use technology newly developed by Linde. The German company had been expected to seek to carry out the EPC work itself because the technology has not yet been used for a commercial plant.

In mid May, United awarded a $220 million EPC contract to Japan's Toyo Engineering Corporationfor the EOEG package. The EPC contract for the main ethylene plant was awarded in November to a consortium led by the US' Halliburton KBR. The complex will produce 1 million t/y of ethylene, 650,000 t/y of EOEG and 150,000 t/y of alpha olefins. The project manager for the scheme is the US' Fluor Daniel.

United has also awarded two contracts for the utilities and offsites packages at its new olefins complex in Jubail. The utilities work, worth approximately $50 million, has been awarded to the Mohammad al-Mojil Group. The two-year contract calls for the erection and electromechanical work on utilities including the piping, heaters and boilers. Saudi Binladin Groupis to carry out the offsites work. Its contract was divided into a lump-sum turnkey package, worth SR 75 million ($20 million), and a unit-rate package, worth SR 75 million-150 million ($20 million-40 million).