The KIPIC has extended the deadline to 14th April, 2024 to submit bids for the EPC contract to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. (March 2024)

• KNPC cancelled the original tender since, in December 2006, EPC bidders priced the project's four main packages at USD15 billion against the original USD6.3 billion budget. .March 2007.
• KNPC doubled the project's budget to USD12 billion and changed its contracting strategy to tender the EPC contracts on a cost reimbursable basis instead of LSTK basis to reduce the impact of rising EPC costs and to attract more contractors. .May 2007.
• More than 30 bidders submitted prequalification bids for five packages, which comprises of process plants and marine facilities. KNPC increased the budget to USD14 billion .KD4 billion.. .3 July 2007.
• KNPC announced the lists of pre-qualified companies for Process packages, Tank Farm package and Marine Works package. .September 2007.
• The EPC tender documents for the project's four main packages were issued to the pre-qualified companies. .October 2007.
• The bid closing date was extended till the end of the month .from an original date of December 2007.. .January 2008.
• The award of the 4 packages delayed from March to April 2008. .February 2008.
• The Offsites and Utilities Package .n. 3. awarded to Fluor Corporation. .March 2008.
• GE Oil & Gas announced it was in talks with KNPC to supply equipment worth USD 1 to USD 1.2 billion. KNPC indicated that it might raise the project's total budget to USD 19 billion to take into consideration the rises in construction costs and the possibility of adding more units to the refinery. KNPC announced that the dispute with Saudi Arabia over the project site location was resolved. As a result KNPC will relocate the refinery site one kilometer away from the current proposed site at an additional cost of USD 375 million. .April 2008.
• KNPC selected the four remaining EPC contracts: Process Package 1 was awarded to the Consortium of JGC Corporation and GS Engineering & Construction. Process Package 2 was awarded to SK Engineering & Construction. Storage Tanks Package was awarded to Daelim Industrial Company. Marine Works Package was awarded to Hyundai Engineering & Construction. .May 2008.
• ABJ Engineering is to start the early works element, the work was delayed for almost two years because of the land dispute where the refinery is to be constructed. .May 2008.
• KNPC cancelled all the five process packages awarded because of political disagreement regarding the tendering process. .March 2009.
• KNPC to retender the refinery contracts as eight packages in the first half of 2010. .December 2009.
• KNPC to meet Supreme Petroleum Council .SPC., a decision making authority for oil & gas sector in Kuwait, in March to discuss the Al-Zour refinery project. .February 2010.
• SPC has delayed the decision to issue tenders for contracts on the $15bn Al-Zour refinery. .April 2010.
• SPC s technical panel has approved the Al-Zour refinery project. Now only a final decision from the SPC is awaited to restart the tendering process. .June 2010.?
• KNPC plans to launch tenders for the construction of a fourth refinery before Clean Fuels project, though presently, both are awaiting approvals from SPC. .May 2011.
• The Supreme Petroleum Council .SPC. of Kuwait has granted approval, on June 27, for the building of a new state-of-the-art refinery at Al Zour. .June 2011.
• SPC has made it mandatory for KPC and Kuwait National Petroleum Company .KNPC. to get the prior approval from the State Audit Bureau for the project. .August 2011.
• The project has been approved. .November 2011.
• KNPC has approached the international contractors to work as project management consultants, viz. Fluor Corp. .FLR. of US, Technip SA and UK based Amec Plc. Each consulting contract will cost about $300mn and there will be nine pre-qualified consultants. .April 2012.
• KNPC to launch a tender next month for the refinery project. All the contracts are expected to be awarded by early next year. .May 2012.
• International firms have been asked to submit their pre-qualification documents for the EPC contracts by 14 June for the re-tendered New Refinery Project .NRP. and the Clean Fuels Project .CFP.. .April 2012.
• Deadline to submit EPC pre-qualification documents have been delayed to 4 July. .May 2012.
• Deadline to submit pre-qualification documents has been pushed back to Aug 7. .July 2012.
• The project management consultancy .PMC. bids have been opened by KNPC. WorleyParsons of Australia has submitted the lowest bid of $459mn and $128mn for the Clean Fuels Project .CFP. and the New Refinery Project .NRP. respectively. .July 2012.
• KNPC is in process of evaluating PMC bids; the result is expected to be out in August. .July 2012.
• The client confirms that it has not yet awarded the PMC contract for the project; disproving a local newspaper report. .September 2012.
• Contract worth $528mn been awarded to Amec; it will carry out the engineering and PMC for the construction of a new refinery. .November 2012.
• Firms have been invited to prequalify for the preparatory works at the New Refinery Project .NRP.. The statements of qualification are to be submitted by 5 March. .January 2013.
• KNPC prepares to name shortlisted EPC firms to bid for the two mega-projects  the New Refinery Project .NRP. and the Clean Fuels Project .CFP., by mid-March. .March 2013.?
• Six firms have been pre-qualified for offshore dredging works. They are: Boskalis Westminster of Netherlands, China Harbour Engineering Company, Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors of Netherlands, Penta Ocean Construction Company of Japan, Dredging International of Belgium and Jan De Nul of Belgium. .May 2013.
• KNPC has issued tender for dredging and preparatory works and has set a bid deadline of 27 August. .May 2013.
• Honeywell has been selected to provide the Integrated Control and Safety System .ICSS. for the NRP. It will also provide the FEED for the system. .December 2013.
• Dutch dredging firm Boskalis, out of the six international dredging companies that were pre-qualified, has submitted the lowest bid for the contract to carry out site preparations. .November 2013.
• EPC bids have been invited for the construction of crude oil pipelines to feed the planned new refinery project .NRP.. Bids submission deadline is 6 May. .January 2014.
• Firm prequalified for the storage tank farm package worth $1.1bn are: Daelim of South Korea, Daewoo Engineering & Construction of South Korea, Petrofac of UK / Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea and Saipem of Italy / Essar of India. .February 2014.
• Bids submission deadline for the pipeline construction contract has been delayed to 3 June. .April 2014.
• EPC tenders have been issued for the two packages .Package 4 and 5., which cover the construction of refined product storage tanks and marine facilities. Bids are due on 14 September. .April 2014.
• Kuwait's CTC has pre-qualified six consortiums to bid on the first three packages worth about $9bn, which cover the main process units, including the crude distillation unit .CDU., atmospheric residue desulphurisation unit .ARD., hydrothermal upgrading units .HTUs. and the saturate gas plant, the support process units and the project s utilities and offsites. The closing date for technical and commercial submissions is 26 October. .May 2014.?
• EPC tenders for the first three packages of NRP have been released. The closing date for technical and commercial submissions is 26 October. .June 2014.
• Larsen & Toubro has been emerged as the lowest bidder to install crude oil feedstock pipelines as part of NRP. It submitted a bid price of $814mn alongwith its partner Joint Scientific Group of Kuwait. .July 2014.
• Bids for the package 4 of NRP are now due to be submitted until 9 November, extended from the previous deadline of 14 September. .August 2014.
• Bids for packages 1, 2 and 3 of NRP are now due to be submitted by 13 January 2015, extended from the original deadline of 26 September. .September 2014.
• KNPC has announced the merger of NRP with a planned petrochemical project in same locality. KBC Advanced Technologies is appointed as a technical consultant to study the merger. .September 2014.
• A consortium consisting of Saipem of Italy and Essar of India has submitted the lowest bid price of KD406mn .$1.4bn. for the package 4 of the project. (December 2014)
• A consortium consisting of Hyundai Engineering Company of South Korea, Saipem of Italy and SK Group of South Korea has submitted the lowest bid price of KD454.2mn ($1.54bn) for the package 5 of the project. (January 2015)
• Pipeline package award is delayed. Contractors asked to extend bid bond until the end of March. (January 2015)
• Plans for petrochemical integration with the refinery are in the pre-feasibility phase. (March 2015)
• KNPC seeks permission to spend an extra $2.88bn on the project. (April 2015)
• KNPC announces re-tendering for package 4 (storage tanks) of the project. (May 2015)
• Contracts worth KD3.48 billion ($11.5 billion) have been awarded. Detailed as below: 1. Consortium including Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain, Sinopec of China and Hanwha Engineering and Construction of South Korea to build the main process units of the refinery. This contract is worth KD1.28 billion. 2. Consortium including Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Fluor Corp of the US will build support units and infrastructure services for KD1.74 billion. 3. Consortium including Hyundai Engineering and Construction, SK Engineering and Construction and Saipem of Italy was awarded a KD454 million contract to build a marine export terminal. (July 2015)
• Contract worth about KD475 million ($1.57 billion) for the fourth package of the project has been awarded to a consortium of Saipem of Italy and Essar Projects of India. (August 2015)
• An international consultancy is carrying out a feasibility study on the project to integrate the petrochemicals plant into the refinery project. (November 2015)
• Feasibility study on the project to integrate the petrochemicals plant into the refinery project would be completed this month. (February 2016)
• KNPC is setting up a company to manage integrating a petrochemical facility with the Al-Zour New Refinery. (February 2016)
• The project budget has been raised by nearly $3bn to $16.2bn to “help contain prices allotted by contractors”. (April 2016)
• Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) may fund the refinery project from bank debt. The size of the loan could be up to $13bn. (June 2016)
• Van Oord has completed the reclamation area of 1,320 hectares intended for NRP. The refinery will be constructed on the reclaimed land in a ‘sabkha area’, a salt plain near the coast, 30 km north of the Saudi border. The reclamation project, executed by Van Oord, is the first phase of KNPC’s investment programme for this new refinery. (August 2016)
• Dodsal of UAE has won a contract worth KD265million ($868million) to construct feed pipelines for the planned New Refinery Project (NRP). (January 2017)
• Kuwait’s CTC is expected to re-tender the contract to construct feed pipelines leading to the New Refinery by late February. The contract was awarded earlier to Dodsal of UAE but was cancelled on opposition from Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council. (February 2017)
• The contract to construct feed pipelines for the New Refinery Project of NRP) has been re-tendered. The firms pre-qualified to bid are Daelim Industrial Co.Ltd. of South Korea, JGC Corporation of Japan, Kellog Brown & Root Llc of USA, SK Engineering and Construction Company, Saipem of Italy, SNC- Lavalin Inc. of Canada, Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain. The deadline for submitting bids is 18 June, 2017. (March 2017)
• KNPC and the Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC) signed agreements to transfer contracts of key projects – Al-Zour Refinery, Al-Zour LNG Import and Regasification Terminal, and PMC contract for Al Zour Petrochemicals Project – to Kuwait Integrated Petrochemical Industries Company (KIPIC), which is a subsidiary of KPC. The refinery project is almost 30% completed. (May 2017)
• KOC has awarded a contract worth $850 million to Saipem of Italy for the EPCC of the feed pipelines, which will include the construction of a system of pipelines of various diameter, approximately 450 km in length, for the transportation of crude oil and gas from various KOC South Tank Farm manifolds to the new Al Zour refinery. (August 2017)
• KIPIC has announced that work at Al-Zour Refinery is progressing and is 45% complete. All 5 packages are on schedule and are slated to be completed by the end of 2019. (January 2018) 
• $180 million contract has been awarded to SNC-Lavalin for commissioning management support services, as well as the preparation and delivery of training, documentation and competency development consultancy services, at the Al Zour Refinery in Kuwait. The commissioning technical services including master plan, start-up program development, risk assessment and management, commissioning management support, operations readiness and assurance, project phase execution activities, as well as training, competency development and assurance, documentation preparation, and the development of a knowledge management system and e-learning services, software, procedures and conducting a safe and efficient start-up and operations, will be provided. (July 2018)
• The pre-qualified firms – Dietsmann Technologies of The Netherlands, Eprom of Egypt, Petrofac of UK, Spie Oil & Gas Services Middle East, and Xi Operation & Maintenance Company of South Korea – have been invited bids to submit bids by 14 October, 2018 for an operation and maintenance contract on Al-Zour refinery. The contract scope covers provision of services for the sulphur handling plant, tankage, marine facilities and the waste water treatment plant at the refinery complex. (August 2018)
• KIPIC has invited the pre-qualified firms to submit bids by 12 May, 2019 for a contract to provide maintenance services for a period of five years that will cover process units, utilities and electrical instrumentation at the Al-Zour refinery, which is under construction. The companies that have pre-qualified to bid include: ABJ Engineering & Contracting Company, Al-Meer Technical Services Company, Arabi Enertech Company, Bader Al-Mulla & Brothers Company, Consolidated Contractors Company, Fawaz Refrigeration and A/C Company, Finesco International, General Trading & Contracting Company, Gulf Spic General Trading & Contracting Company, Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Company, HOT Engineering and Construction Company, IMCO Engineering & Construction Company, JGC Corporation of Japan, KCC Engineering & Contracting Company, Kentz Overseas, Magwa Engineering and Contracting Company, National Contracting Company, Nouri & Kent Tech, Ratqa General Trading & Contracting Company, and SK Engineering & Construction Company. (March 2019)
• KIPIC has selected Arabi Enertech for the engineering services, purchase and standby service contract worth KD27.2 million ($90mn). The contract has not yet been signed. (May 2019)
• Client is set to issue tender by first week of July for consultancy work including feasibility, pre-feed and feed for Al-Zour refinery units. The contract worth $90mn is for add-on services and units for the refinery and the nearby liquefied natural gas import facility (LNGI). (June 2019)
• The bids submission deadline has been extended to 21 July, 2019 for a contract to provide maintenance services on Al-Zour refinery, which is under construction. The contract scope includes the provision of maintenance services of two packages, known as Block 1 and Block 2, for a period of five years that will cover process units, utilities and electrical instrumentation. (June 2019)
• KIPIC has extended the bids submission deadline to 25 August, 2019 for a contract to provide maintenance services for its Al-Zour refinery, which is under construction. (August 2019)
• Mechanical work completed for Al-Zour refinery marine package. The project expected to come online in June 2021. (August 2019)
• KIPIC has awarded a $63-million operation and maintenance contract to Veolia of France for a wastewater treatment project (WTP) within its Al Zour facility. Veolia will treat and recycle wastewater at the rate of 1,500 cu m/h, and will also be responsible for the sludge incineration unit. The company will deploy its complex facility management solutions to optimize water treatment and recycling with a goal of zero liquid discharge (ZLD). (August 2019)
• Client has awarded two contracts to local firms for works at its Al Zour refinery project. Contract worth KD 9.9 million ($32.6 million) for quality control services for the refinery has been awarded to Nasser Mohammed Al Bedah & Partner General Trading & Contracting Co. Contract worth KD 27.2 million ($89.5 million) for engineering, procurement and back-up construction for the refinery project has been awarded to Arabi Energy & Technology Co. (August 2019)
• KIPIC has once again extended the bids submission deadline for a contract to provide maintenance services for its Al-Zour refinery. Bids are now due to be submitted by 15 October, 2019, extended from the previous deadline of 25 August, 2019. (October 2019)
• Hatem al-Awadhi, CEO of Kipic, said the refinery will become partially operational in June 2020. Full commercial operation is unlikely to start before 2022, with slow progress expected in the final commissioning phases of the project. (October 2019)
• Fluor Corporation (FLR) announced that its joint venture COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries, Co., Ltd. (COOEC-Fluor) fabrication yard in Zhuhai, China, has safely completed the pipe spool fabrication portion of its scope of work in support of the KIPIC’s Al-Zour project. To achieve this milestone, COOEC-Fluor delivered more than 95,000 pipe spools by fabricating 337,000 linear meters of carbon, alloy and stainless steel pipe. In addition, COOEC-Fluor is fabricating and assembling 188 modules with final loadout and shipping to the project site. The refinery will become partially operational in June 2020. (October 2019)
• KIPIC has selected Honeywell as the main automation contractor for its Petrochemicals and Refinery Integration Al Zour Project. Honeywell will provide KIPIC with FEED and advanced process control technology for the project, which will help KIPIC expedite production start-up and assist with reaching production targets faster and more efficiently. (November 2019)
• The lowest bid offer of $172.1 million came from Gulf Spic Company for the contract to provide maintenance services for its Al-Zour refinery, which is under construction. (December 2019)
• Main Package (main process units of the refinery) by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has been completed. (December 2019)
• Pre-commissioning works are under way on Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery marine package. (December 2019)
• The Al-Zour refinery is due to become partially operational in the second half of 2020. Canada's SNC Lavalin is to assist KIPIC as it commissions the project. (January 2020)
• A contract worth 50.8 million dinars ($168 million) for Block-2 maintenance services for the 615,000-bpd Al-Zour refinery has been awarded to Amco Engineering Services Company. The contract scope includes the provision of maintenance services, which will cover process units, utilities and electrical instrumentation, for a period of five years. (May 2020)
• KIPIC has extended the bids submission deadline to 20 October for a tender for “Consultancy for Project Engineering and Management Services for various projects at Al-Zour Refinery, Petrochemical Complex, LNG Import Facilities and other facilities”. One of the major services considered under the contract is development of FEED and PMC Services for EPC for the Al-Zour Refinery Project (ZOR) Upgrade Project, which is essentially a part of the expansion in local refining capacity and covers the requirement under ZOR Refinery. A total of five consultancies have been invited to submit their proposals: Worley Europe Ltd, Amec Foster Wheeler Group Ltd, Fluor Consultants B.V, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) Limited, and Technip Italy S.P.A. (September 2020)
• KIPIC has extended the bids submission deadline to 22 November for a tender for “Consultancy for Project Engineering and Management Services for various projects at Al-Zour Refinery, Petrochemical Complex, LNG Import Facilities and other facilities”. One of the major services considered under the contract is development of FEED and PMC Services for EPC for the Al-Zour Refinery Project (ZOR) Upgrade Project, which is essentially a part of the expansion in local refining capacity and covers the requirement under ZOR Refinery. A total of five consultancies have been invited to submit their proposals: Worley Europe Ltd, Amec Foster Wheeler Group Ltd, Fluor Consultants B.V, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) Limited, and Technip Italy S.P.A. (November 2020)
• KIPIC has named the lowest bidder for the contract to provide “Consultancy for Project Engineering and Management Services at Al-Zour Refinery”. Technip Italy S.P.A has submitted the lowest bid offer of KWD 68,069,754 ($222.8 million). (December 2020)
• The refinery is set to start operations in early 2021. Key feed pipeline is yet to be completed. (December 2020)
• KIPIC has awarded a contract worth $223 million to Technip Italy S.P.A to provide “Consultancy for Project Engineering and Management Services at Al-Zour Refinery”. One of the major services considered under the contract is development of FEED and PMC Services for EPC for the Al-Zour Refinery Project (ZOR) Upgrade Project, which is essentially a part of the expansion in local refining capacity and covers the requirement under ZOR Refinery. (March 2021)
• KIPIC seeks formal statements of interest for the planned $150mn project to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. Firms contacted to submit interest include: Hyundai E&C of South Korea, Larsen and Toubro of India, Petrofac of UK, Samsung Engineering of South Korea, SK Engineering and Contracting of South Korea. (October 2022)
• Kuwait has prioritized some of the storage tanks that were to be among the last parts of the $16bn Al-Zour refinery project to come online on an accelerated schedule. (October 2022)
• KIPIC is likely to issue the EPC tender soon to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. The EPC scope will include the construction of compression facilities, modifications and associated tie-ins for the existing hydrogen production unit, construction of steam generation unit and associated facilities. The project is expected to take 36 months to complete. (December 2022)
• KIPIC has issued the EPC tender to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. Last date for the submission of bids is 24 September, 2023. The contract scope covers EPC Works, Pre-commissioning and Operational Assistance / Start-up / Quality Testing for the Alternative Feedstock Hydrogen Production Unit – Phase 1. The client had sought formal statements of interest for the contract from: • Hyundai E&C of South Korea, • Larsen and Toubro of India, • Petrofac of UK, • Samsung Engineering of South Korea, • SK Engineering and Contracting of South Korea. The project has an estimated budget of $150mn. (June 2023)
• The KIPIC has extended the deadline to 17 December, 2023 to submit bids for the EPC contract to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. (November 2023)
• Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co. revealed that the massive Al-Zour refinery has successfully attained full operational status, marking a crucial milestone for the nation’s energy infrastructure. The completion of the third mini refinery within the Al-Zour complex is a key factor in the facility’s capacity expansion. According to Waleed Al-Bader, the CEO of KIPIC, this latest addition will progressively elevate the refinery’s daily processing capacity from the current 410,000 barrels to an impressive 615,000 barrels. (December 2023)
• The KIPIC has extended the deadline to 14 January, 2024 to submit bids for the EPC contract to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. (December 2023)
• The KIPIC has extended the deadline to 11th February, 2024 to submit bids for the EPC contract to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. (February 2024)
• The KIPIC has extended the deadline to 12th March, 2024 to submit bids for the EPC contract to develop an alternative feed for the hydrogen production unit at its Al-Zour refinery. (February 2024)