KUWAIT, Oct 24 (KUNA) -- Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said on Wednesday it has selected Foster Wheeler and Amec companies as consultants for two mega oil projects estimated to cost around USD 30 billion.

KNPC said in a statement that the London-based international engineering and project management company Amec was awarded the consultancy contract for building a new 615,000 barrels per day refinery.

US Foster Wheeler company was appointed as consultant for the so-called clean fuel project, under which two of Kuwait's three existing refineries at Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah will be upgraded.

Each of the two projects is estimated to cost around USD 15 billion.

Spokesman for KNPC, Mohammad Al-Ajmi said the value of the Amec contract is USD 528 million and USD 502 million for Foster Wheeler contract, adding that both projects are slated to be completed by 2018.

The two projects are projected to raise Kuwait's refining capacity to 1.4 million bpd from the current 930,000 bpd. When the two projects are complete, Kuwait plans to shut the Shuaiba refinery.