PREQUALIFICATION bids for the multibillion-dollar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package for Oman’s Duqm Refinery project are expected to be invited in the third quarter of this year.

Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company (DRPIC) – a joint venture of Oman Oil Company (50 per cent) and International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC, 50 per cent), a wholly owned commercial entity of the Abu Dhabi government – is developing the refinery project with an investment of around $6 billion.

Plans for an associated petrochemical complex in the second phase could add a further $9 billion to the total project cost, say experts.

In the first phase, however, DRPIC is focused on developing a 230,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) grassroots merchant export refinery within the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the Wusta coast. The world-scale scheme is expected to anchor Duqm’s eventual development into one of the largest industrial and economic hubs in the region.

Ahead of the actual commencement of work on the plant, DRPIC is expected to appoint a civil contractor to ready the sprawling site allocated by the Duqm SEZ Authority for the refinery and petrochemical complex.

A contract award is expected in the first quarter of next year, with completion slated around 12 months thereafter.

Likewise, an invitation to bid (ITB) for the key EPC package is expected to be floated in Q2 2015, with a contract award envisioned in the second quarter of 2016.

Plant commissioning is foreseen towards the end of 2018 with operations proposed to be ramped up to the plant’s full capacity before the end of 2019.