Aramco invites engineering bids for refinery

By Oliver Klaus
Aug 20, 2007
DUBAI (MarketWatch)

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. has invited engineering firms to bid for a contract to help it build an estimated $8-billion refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the plans said Monday.

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest national oil company, has invited international engineering companies to bid by Sept. 15 for the contract to carry out early engineering for and manage the construction of the new refinery, the sources said.
The plant, known as East Coast refinery, is the fourth new facility planned in the kingdom and will boost total domestic crude oil refining capacity to above 3.5 million barrels a day by 2012, more than double the U.K.'s.

The refinery, due for completion around late 2011, will process 400,000 barrels a day of Saudi crude and will be at Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf, already home to the country's largest refinery with a capacity of 550,000 barrels a day, the sources said.

Aramco will meet selected contractors Monday for a project briefing in Bahrain, the people said.

Companies including KBR Inc. KBR, Foster Wheeler Ltd. FWLT, and WorleyParsons Ltd. (WOR.AU) have bid for similar contracts in the kingdom.

The new project is aimed at meeting fast-growing demand for refined products from the local power and industrial sectors.