Australia-based engineering group WorleyParsons has been awarded the project management consultancy (PMC) contract for a refinery expansion project in Egypt.

The deal was awarded by Asyut Oil Refining Company (ASORC), a subsidiary of state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), for work on the Asyut refinery.

WorleyParsons will develop the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages, review the bids, then manage and supervise the EPC contractors during the execution phase of the scheme.

The expansion will see a new naphtha complex built at the refinery site, comprising a naphtha hydrotreater unit (NHT), a continuous catalytic regeneration (CCR) reformer and an isomerisation unit.

The new facilities will have the capacity to provide 660,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of high octane gasoline and different grades of gasoline.

The complex will meet 75 per cent of demand in the neighbouring provinces, WorleyParsons said. Asyut is located on the Nile, about 375 kilometres south of Cairo.