Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company (OQ8), has announced the start of the trial operation for the crude oil distillation unit at the Duqm Refinery in Oman. The refinery has a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day. This step paves the way for operational readiness for all Duqm Refinery units. The trial operation goes through several phases before reaching maximum capacity, followed by commercial operation, which is expected by the end of 2023. (April 2023)

• Firms have been invited to express interest in pre-qualification of the EPC tender for the refinery project. .September 2014.
• The Omani cabinet made the final decision to move ahead with the project. The project has been at the study phase since mid-2010. .February 2012.
• Bids have been invited for a contract covering project management consultancy .PMC. contract. Tenders for the front-end engineering and design .feed. contract are expected to be released when the exact configuration of the refinery has been formulated. .April 2012.
• The project management consultant and a management team have been appointed for the project. US contractor Shaw Group has been appointed as the scheme s project management consultant .PMC.. OOC s Christopher Wszolek has been appointed as the project director. OOC s chief executive officer .CEO. Salim al-Wahaibi as chairman and Ipic managing director Abdullah al-Qubaisi as vice chairman of the project. .August 2012.?
• Oman is targeting the completion of the project by 2017, according to the chairman of Duqm Special Economic Zone .SEZ.. The FEED contract for the refinery is expected to be tendered later in this year. .October 2012.
• The feed contract on the Duqm refinery project is expected to be tendered in mid-May. The feed pre-qualification process has been completed. .April 2013.
• Bids for the FEED contract of the refinery have been submitted. .August 2013.
• Credit Agricole of France has been appointed as financial adviser for the planned refinery project. .October 2013.
• FEED bids for the refinery project are still being evaluated and the award has been delayed. The bidders are: US firms Bechtel, CB&I Lummus, Foster Wheeler and KBR and France s Technip. .November 2013.?
• The front-end engineering and design .feed. contract for the project has been awarded to Foster Wheeler of Switzerland. .March 2014.
• Pre-qualification deadline extended for Duqm oil refinery project. Companies now have time until March. (February 2015)
• Galfar Engineering and Contracting has won a site preparation contract worth $56 million for the new Duqm refinery at SEZ in Duqm. The scope of work includes excavation and compaction of more than 12 million cu m of soil besides laying the groundwork to start the refinery construction next year. The work is expected to start in Q2 2015 and is due for completion in Q2 2016. (May 2015)
• Tenders issued for EPC of service corridor between Duqm Refinery and the Port of Duqm. Bids submission deadline is 24 November. (October 2015)
• About 15 firms have been pre-qualified for the refinery project. For package 1, firms pre-qualified are: CB&I of US / CTCI of Taiwan, Daewoo of South Korea / Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain, Fluor of US, GS Engineering & Construction of South Korea / Saipem of Italy, Hyundai E&C of South Korea / Daelim of South Korea, Samsung Engineering of South Korea / Chiyoda of Japan / Petrofac of UK, Sinopec of China, SK Engineering & Construction of South Korea, and Tecnimont of Italy. For package 2, firms pre-qualified are: Daewoo of South Korea / Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain, GS Engineering & Construction of South Korea / Saipem of Italy, Hyundai E&C of South Korea / Daelim of South Korea, Samsung Engineering of South Korea / Chiyoda of Japan / Petrofac of UK, Sinopec of China, and Tecnimont of Italy. (October 2015)
• Bids have been invited on the two main EPC packages of the project. Around seven of the 15 pre-qualified firms have been asked to submit bids, however, their names have not been disclosed yet. (November 2015)
• Bids on the two main EPC packages have been invited by 21 March, extended from the previous deadline of 27 February. (February 2016)
• Bids on EPC package 1, covering main oil process units, have been submitted. Bidders are – CB&I of US / CTCI of Taiwan, JGC of Japan / GS Engineering & Construction of South Korea / Saipem of Italy, Petrofac of UK / Samsung Engineering of South Korea / Chiyoda of Japan, Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain / Daewoo of South Korea. The deadline for the submission of technical bids for second package is set for May. This will be followed by commercial bids submission. (March 2016)
• The consortiums that submitted bids for package 1 with the addition of South Korea’s Daelim/Hyundai Engineering & Construction/Hyundai Engineering, are thought to have bid on a second package. (May 2016)
• Banks are expecting a major loan for Refinery project to be syndicated in the second half of 2016. Client has begun contacting export credit agencies (ECAs). Discussions with local and international banks are expected to start shortly. (May 2016)
• Bids have been submitted for PMC contract for the construction of a refinery in Duqm, Oman. The bidders are - Amec Foster Wheeler of UK, Bechtel of US, and Fluor of US / Technip of France. Client is currently assessing bids for the main EPC package. (October 2016)  
• Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) has replaced the UAE’s International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) for the development of Oman’s planned Duqm petrochemicals complex. A JV company will be formed, with KPI and OOC as equal partners to facilitate the development. The two firms will own, manage and operate a refinery within the proposed complex. (November 2016)
• Commercial bids on the refinery project’s two main EPC packages have been invited; bids are due to be submitted by 20 February, 2017. (January 2017)

• Package covering site preparation work has been completed. The work comprised the excavation and compaction of more than 12 million cubic metres of material. (January 2017)

• A shareholder agreement between Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) for building Duqm refinery will be finalised soon. (February 2017)
• Bids for the PMC contract are opened. The bidders are: Amec Foster Wheeler of UK, Bechtel of US, KBR of US, and Technip of France. (February 2017)
• Bids for the third EPC package on the refinery project have been submitted. The bidders are: Kentz of Ireland, Petrofac of UK / Samsung C&T of South Korea, Rotary Engineering of Singapore, Saipem of Italy, and Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain / Daewoo of South Korea. The contract scope covers the construction of terminal export facilities, crude tank farm and pipelines at Ras Markaz, pumping station and associated facilities. (March 2017)
• Credit Agricole SA has been appointed to advise on fundraising for $7 billion refinery project. The company will help DRPI raise more than $2 billion in loans. (March 2017)
• Two groups have been shortlisted for the EPC contract on the construction of a refinery in Duqm, Oman. The groups are: Petrofac of UK / Samsung Engineering of South Korea / Chiyoda of Japan, and Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain / Daewoo of South Korea. (March 2017) 
• Kuwait Petroleum International has signed a 50:50 joint venture agreement with Oman Oil Company to develop the refinery project. The project is looking for financial closure by year-end. The $7bn refinery is looking to secure a loan for $5bn from international and local lending institutions. Financing for the project will require a mix of equity from shareholders as well as domestic and foreign borrowing. (April 2017)
• Contractors have been selected for EPC packages one and two for the refinery project. Award to be given soon. For package 1, Tecnicas Reunidas/Daewoo JV is the front runner, whereas for package 2, Samsung Engineering/Petrofac JV is the front runner. (May 2017)
• The main packages worth about $5bn have been awarded. EPC 1, and comprising the main process units of the refinery, have been awarded to the consortium of Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain and Daewoo of South Korea. EPC 2, for utilities and offsite facilities has been awarded to the joint venture of Petrofac of UK and Samsung Engineering of South Korea. The value of the contract is estimated at $2 billion and it will take 47 months for the consortium to complete the work. Saipem SpA has been named as the winner of three other components of the refinery project, collectively designated EPC 3. (August 2017)
• Agreement has been signed to appoint Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW) engineering consultancy as the project management contractor (PMC) for the refinery’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase. (August 2017)
• Saipem SpA, winner of Package 3, has been joined by CB&I as its consortium partner. The contract is valued at $140 million. CB&I will be performing all of the EPC works for storage tanks at the export terminal and crude tank farm, while Saipem – the leader of Package 3 – will perform the balance of the works. (September 2017)
• Contract valued at approximately $750 million for providing engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning works under Package ‘Offsite Facilities’ for the construction of the project has been awarded to Saipem. (February 2018)
• OOC, KPC have jointly laid the foundation stone for the Duqm Refinery project in the sultanate. (May 2018)
• Duqm Refinery – JV of OOC and KPI – has issued a “notice to proceed” to the contractors of the three engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages worth $5.75 billion. The project is expected to be completed in 42 months. Initially, contractors will allocate resources to complete detailed engineering design work at their home offices where they will be joined by staff from Duqm Refinery. (June 2018)
• Oman Oil Duqm Development Company is making headway in the financing of the debt component of the Refinery project. The financing will be completed by next month. (October 2018)
• A multi-million dollar contract has been awarded to Wood Group of UK to provide two Terrace Wall™ double-fired delayed coker heaters for the upcoming $7bn Duqm refinery. Effective immediately, the contract will be delivered by Wood’s process and technology specialists based in New Jersey, US. Wood Group has successfully delivered the process design phase, the technology package and licence of the company’s SYDEC (selective yield delayed coking) technology. The contract is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. (October 2018)
• The Petrofac-Samsung JV (EPC contractor for utilities and off-sites) has awarded a sub-contract worth $50.6 million at Duqm Refinery, to Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company of Oman. Under the contract, Galfar will be responsible for building works of EPC Package Two - Utilities & Offsites. The work is likely to be completed within two years. (October 2018)
• Oman Oil Company and Kuwait Petroleum International have signed a $4.61 billion multi-source project financing deal for the development of the 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) Duqm refinery project. It is the largest project financing in the sultanate provided by 29 reputed financial institutions from 13 countries and insurance and guarantees (cover) provided by three major Export Credit Agencies. It comprises an international commercial facility, an onshore commercial and an Islamic facility besides a United Kingdom (UKEF)-covered, a Spanish (CESCE)-covered, a South Korean (K-EXIM) covered facilities along with a K-EXIM direct facility. (November 2018)
• Duqm Refinery has secured $100mn (OMR38.5mn) Project Financing from Development bank Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) to fund the construction of its eponymous project in the sultanate. Of its $100mn contribution, $50mn (OMR19.2mn) of Apicorp’s funds are Shari’a-compliant, while the remaining half are conventional tranche. (December 2018)
• The Técnicas Reunidas-Daewoo (TRD) joint venture has awarded two new civil work contracts worth $42.1 million to Douglas OHI. The contract scope involves the civil and underground piping to support the installation of equipment, pipe-racks and specialist structures and networks across packages 1 and 2. (April 2019)
• Contract worth $60-million has been awarded to Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company of Oman for the Duqm refinery project. As per the subcontract, Galfar will provide ‘mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping fabrication works for sub-package A and C at Duqm Refinery Package 3, offsite facilities’. The project work is likely to be completed by the end of November 2020. (October 2019)
• The Omani port has received nine massive LPG storage tanks for the refinery project, each of them weighing around 780 tonnes. (February 2020)
• Duqm has received SAL Heavy Lift vessel M V Anne Sofie carrying over-dimensional shipments for its flagship refinery project, as part of the EPC 1 package, with Spanish company Technicas Reunidas as its lead contractor. The highlight of the shipment is the discharge of one single heavy lift piece weighing almost 800 tonnes and measuring 73 m in length, a width of 12.6 m and a height of 13 m. The vessel had on board air coolers and accessories. Mammoet, a global market leader in heavy lift transportation, has been signed up for the safe pick-up and delivery to Duqm Refinery. (April 2020)
• The construction work at the refinery is in progress. (May 2020)
• Two subcontracts have been awarded for the Duqm refinery project to Mammoet. 1. The first contract came from a local manufacturer, involving the inland and sea transport of nine LPG storage tanks (bullets) for EPC-2 Offsite and Utilities scope of the project. 2. The second contract was awarded by Agility Global Logistics (Agility) and comprises receiving and transport of various reactors.Each 780-tonne bullet fabricated at a local fabrication facility in Sohar, measured 72 m long, 11 m high and 8 m wide, and was loaded-out by 44 axle lines of self-propelled modular trailers (SPMT) onto a barge provided by Mammoet in Sohar, bound for the Port of Duqm. Precision positioning of the RoRo ramps, an accurate ballasting plan, expert mooring and sea fastening ensured successful load-outs. (July 2020)
• Oman’s ambitious goal of building the biggest oil-storage facility in the Middle East is finally progressing, more than seven years after the Gulf sultanate announced the plan. Oman Tank Terminal Co has almost finished constructing eight tanks to store crude for a new refinery that would increase Duqm’s capacity to at least 25 million barrels. The Duqm refinery is scheduled to start in 2021 and the eight tanks will be able to hold 5.7 million barrels. They should be ready by the first quarter of 2021. OTTCO’s plans for the expanded tank farm still hinge on finding co-financiers as well as companies to book the storage. (June 2020)
• Oman’s new bulk oil terminal, alongside the multibillion-dollar refinery project is due to become Operational in 2023. Conceived initially as an export facility for the refined petroleum products of Duqm Refinery, it has since been scaled up to serve assorted international energy firms looking to operate out of Duqm. (August 2020)
• OQ with Phazero to develop artificial intelligence software that will predict component malfunctions in the country’s refineries before they happen. The software will allow OQ to focus maintenance efforts on the components that are most likely to break down and will lead to shorter periods of downtime. (August 2020)
• The estimated $7bn refinery close to 80 per cent complete. It will have the capacity to refine 230,000 bpd of crude to produce diesel, naphtha, jet fuel and LPG. (March 2021)