Page 8 - DMEA Week 33 2022

DMEA COMPANIES DMEA

Kuwaiti firms extend deadline

for up- and downstream tenders

MIDDLE EAST STATE-OWNED Kuwait Petroleum Corp. These tenders formed part of an $11.5bn
(KPC) has extended the bidding deadline for allocation for oil and gas projects under a wider
contracts for construction work in the upstream effort to ramp up production. Of this, around
and the supply of sulphuric acid to refineries. $424mn worth of projects have advanced to the
According to a report by MEED, the first design phase, $492mn are in prequalification,
contract covers the construction of two 132- $1.64bn are in planning and initial design, while
kV substations as well as 33 power lines in the the $8.32bn bulk remain in the study phase.
north of the country. The report cited Kuwait’s Both KPC and KOC said during the summer
Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) as that the first ever drilling campaign in the coun-
saying that KPC’s upstream subsidiary Kuwait try’s offshore would soon begin, as they work to
Oil Co. (KOC) had pushed back the deadline expand oil production capacity and set ambi-
from September 4 until October 16, as oil sector tious targets.
projects continue to suffer delays owing to ongo- The Ministry of Oil (MoO) is working
ing political strife. toward reaching a maximum sustainable capac-
Meanwhile, MEED said that the second ity for oil production of 2.7mn barrels per day
delayed contract had originally been tendered by 2025, and 4mn bpd by 2035, but the timeline
by KPC, covering the supply of sulphuric acid to for these increases may be altered amid rising
refineries operated by its downstream subsidi- commodity prices. ™
ary Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC).
The deadline has been extended from August
25 until September 8.
The country’s parliament was dissolved ear-
lier in the month, meaning that the 2022/2023
state budget cannot be approved. New elections
are expected to be held in October.
In late June, the local Arabic-language news-
paper Al-Anba reported that PetroTel had won
a $30mn deal covering “technical consultancy
in oil and gas” for KOC. The report said that
PetroTel was among five bidders – Oman-based
Target Oilfield Services, France’s Beicip-Franlab,
Halliburton and Robertson Energy, both of the
US, quoting KOC sources.
The winning bid was reported to be the low-
est received by KOC, with the other offers rang-
ing from $30.7-32.7mn. KPC has extended the closing date for bidding in several tenders (Photo: KPC)

NIOC unit reviving $3.3bn LNG project

MIDDLE EAST A National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) subsidiary the facility envisaged it as having a 10mn tones/
has announced it has obtained a permit for a year capacity.
$3.3bn LNG production facility that will have US sanctions levied on Tehran in 2018 hin-
an output of 5mn tonnes per year (tpy), Press dered the investment and export plans for Iran
TV reported on August 10. LNG, which comes under the Iran Liquefied
Looking to exploit booming wholesale Natural Gas Company (ILC) company and is
energy prices, Iran is hoping to ship the plant’s ultimately owned by Iran’s Oil Pension Fund
LNG to export markets in Asia and perhaps under the Ministry of Petroleum.
even in Europe if the political environment The sanctions put in place reportedly pre-
becomes conducive. The project to build the vented German supplier Linde from exporting
plant, named Iran LNG, is one of three long-de- equipment needed for the Iran LNG liquefac-
layed Iranian LNG projects. The initial plan for tion train.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 18•August•2022