FOREIGN engineering firms have submitted bids to design Saudi Aramco’s Jizan crude oil refinery, which is expected to process 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and is part of the kingdom’s plans to boost domestic refining capacity from the current level of 2.1 million bpd.

Seven international engineering firms submitted their proposals, of which five were US companies: KBR, Foster Wheeler, Mustang Engineering, Fluor and Jacobs Engineering. France’s Technip and Australia’s Worley Parsons also participated in the bidding.

The refinery is to be built in Jizan at a cost of several billion dollars, far from the kingdom’s producing oilfields, as part of a wider development plan to revive the impoverished southern region.

Companies had sought more time to submit bids for the front-end engineering and design (Feed) and project management services (PMS), which was however closed on December 25 as set by Aramco.

Saudi Arabia hopes the refinery would be built and owned entirely by the private sector, a first in the world’s top oil exporter. Last year, the government handed over the delayed project to Aramco.

The plant will produce around 75,000 bpd of gasoline, 100,000 to 160,000 bpd of ultra-low-sulphur diesel and 160,000 to 220,000 bpd of fuel oil depending on the crude mix processed.