April 12th, 2015:

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has decided to seek an additional sum of 871 million dinars ($3 billion) for its multi-billion-dollar Al-Zour oil refinery project after submitted bids exceeded budget, a newspaper reported on Sunday. "KNPC is going ahead and will start measures from today to request additional funds for this project," Kuwait's Arabic-language daily Al-Seyassah said, quoting KNPC CEO Mohammed Ghazi Al-Mutairi. Mutairi did not specify the additional amount, but Kuwaiti's Al-Rai newspaper quoted sources as saying the figure stood at about 871 million dinars. The Arabic daily said the final decision would be taken by the Supreme Petroleum Council.

Al-Seyassah quoted Mutairi as saying bids for all five packages for the project stood at least 20 percent above the 4 billion-dinar ($14 billion) budget allocated in 2006.  Company sources attributed the funding gap to a sharp increase in contracting and construction costs, the newspaper reported. The 615,000-barrels per day (bpd) Al Zour refinery in south Kuwait, one of the world's largest oil refineries, together with the mega clean-fuel project launched by the OPEC producer, will almost double its oil refining output capacity to 1.4 million bpd. Kuwaiti media had reported that Spain's TR (Técnicas Reunidas) group and the U.S. Fluor Corp have submitted the lowest bids for the two main contracts.

By Zawya