Kuwait�s Oil Minister Pushes Refinery Projects, Despite Politics
Kuwait�s reinstated parliament on 7 August failed to meet for a second time in two weeks to swear in the new government. Most lawmakers boycotted the session to force the Amir to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections, probably by October. It is expected that the caretaker government, including Minister of Oil Hani Husain, will stay on. Kuwait�s constitutional court ruled in June that parliament was elected unconstitutionally and restored the previous one, known as �The 2009 Parliament� for when it was elected. The instability has further delayed the building of a new 615,000 b/d refinery at al-Zour and a revamp of two of the country�s three refineries, known as the Clean Fuels Project. A contractor tells MEES: �KNPC�s head and Hani are both pushing very hard using all their power to start bidding for the two mega-projects by next year. But the political chaos could be a problem.�
Muhammad Ghazi al-Mutairi, Deputy Managing Director of Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, told Al Rai newspaper that the cost of the clean fuels project could be lowered to KD3.5-4bn from the original estimate of KD4.6bn, if its implementation could start in the next two months. He expected that the consultancy tenders for the new refinery and clean fuel projects would be awarded by the end of August and said that the tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project will be awarded before the end of 2012.
The contractor, however, tells MEES that early September is more likely for both the project management contract award and the prequalification approval of engineering firms to bid for construction. The construction awards are more likely in the first quarter of 2013. This is the third delay since the original deadlines were scheduled for project management contract and prequalification in June.
Mr Mutairi added that so far the value of what has been implemented from the budget for the clean fuel project is KD1.4bn for Mina al-Ahmadi refinery and KD2.4bn for the Mina 'Abd Allah refinery. A further KD200mn was spent on preparatory work on the sites at the two refineries.
Copyright MEES 2012.
