Kuwait tenders $800m fuel depot
15 November 2023
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State-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has tendered a contract for a fuel depot project estimated to be worth $800m.
The invitation to bid on the project has been issued with a bid submission deadline of 13 February 2024.
Tender documents were made available to contractors on 12 November, and a pre-tender meeting is scheduled for 17 December.
The scheme is known as Al-Mutlaa New Fuel Depot Project, and its scope is expected to include:
- Development of new pumping facilities at the Mina al-Ahmadi and Shuaiba refineries
- Laying of cross-country pipelines from the Mina al-Ahmadi and Shuaiba refineries
- Construction of a local market depot
- Installation of safety systems
- Installation of fire-fighting systems
- Construction of storage tanks
In December 2021, MEED revealed that UK-based Wood Group had completed the revised front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the long-delayed project to develop the oil products marketing depot in Kuwait’s Jahra governorate.
The project has been delayed since feasibility studies were completed in 2013.
Feed work was originally completed in 2015, before KNPC decided the original design needed to be revised.
Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was overhauled as part of the $16bn Clean Fuels Project.
In September 2021, KNPC brought the final units of its Clean Fuels Project online.
The Clean Fuels Project integrated and modernised Kuwait’s Mina Abdulla refinery and the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.
The capacity was increased to 454,000 barrels a day (b/d) at the Mina Abdulla refinery and 346,000 b/d at the Mina al-Ahmadi refinery.
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$1.5bn chemicals project put on hold in Algeria17 March 2026

UK-based engineering contractor Petrofac and its partner, China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation (HQCEC), have stopped work on a petrochemicals project in Algeria, valued at approximately $1.5bn.
The project has been put “on hold”, according to industry sources.
Petrofac and HQCEC signed the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Algerian petrochemicals project in June 2023.
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Contractors submit prices for Upper Zakum expansion project16 March 2026

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Neom cancels The Line tunnels contracts16 March 2026

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Neom has cancelled the contracts related to the construction of the tunnel sections of The Line in northwest Saudi Arabia.
In a stock exchange announcement filed on 13 March, South Korean contractor Hyundai E&C said that Neom cancelled its contract on 29 December last year.
Hyundai E&C was executing the drill-and-blast section of The Line’s tunnels in a joint venture with Greece’s Archirodon and South Korean counterpart Samsung C&T.
The firm said its share of the joint venture was about 35%, amounting to $483m.
Neom awarded contracts for constructing the mountain tunnel sections of The Line in June 2022.
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By July last year, with the sovereign wealth fund facing tightening liquidity, the kingdom was reported to have conducted a “strategic review” to determine whether The Line was feasible – a process described as a “recalibration” of Vision 2030.
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