Italian engineering company Saipem has received a contract worth US$850mn from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to build 450km pipeline system for the new Al Zour refinery located in the south of Kuwait
As part of the contract, Saipen will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for the feed pipeline system.
Saipem noted that the pipeline system is planned for the transportation of crude oil and gas to the new Al Zour refinery from different KOC South Tank Farm manifolds.
Under the project, a network of new pipeline will also be developed to carry refined fuel products to the storage areas at the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery. According to Saipem, the refined fuel will be used to feed the Northern Power Station under the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity and Water.
Commenting on the contract, Stefano Cao, CEO of Saipem, said, “We welcome with particular satisfaction this new contract from such an important client as KOC, both because it marks a new milestone for the company in the onshore E&C sector and, above all, because it reinforces and consolidates Saipem’s presence in Kuwait, a country where we have been operating for over 30 years.”
Kuwait’s Al Zour refinery has been anticipated to be commissioned in early 2019, with plan to have a capacity of 615,000 bpd. According to KOC, the project is the world's largest grassroots refinery and is expected to boost Kuwait's total refinery capacity to 1.4mn bpd.
The Al Zour refinery was initially planned in May 2006, but the construction was cancelled in March 2008 due to political opposition.
KOC is a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) which is the national oil company in the country. Established in 1980, KPC currently has operations spanning across six continents.
