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A project to build pipelines to feed Kuwait’s largest oil refinery in the Southern Al-Zour area has not been completed although it was supposed to be delivered within 3 years after the contract was awarded in 2017, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The state-owned Kuwait oil Company (KOC), which manages the Gulf emirate’s upstream sector, said in 2022 it had imposed a fine on the contractor for the delay and that it extended a deadline for the project completion to May 2022.
“In new contacts, the Kuwaiti Agency for Public Tenders told KOC that it still does not see any clear vision for the project completion although KOC reported that the project would be finished on May 22, 2022,” the Arabic language daily Alanba said.
The contract to build the pipeline at a cost of around 256.9 million Kuwaiti dinars ($848 million) was awarded to a foreign firm in August 2017 and work had been due to be completed after three years.
But corrosion in the pipes in some areas because of mud and other problems forced KOC to delay the execution of the project.
Alanba quoted KOC sources as saying in 2022 the commission of the pipeline would allow the Company to fully operate $16-billion Al-Zour oil refinery, with an output capacity of 615,000 bpd.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
