OREANDA-NEWS. Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) has announced the completion of the first stage of the two-stage tender for pre-qualification for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) work packages for the estimated USD 3.6 billion Liwa Plastics Project (LPP) petrochemical complex in Sohar. The pre-qualification tender invited applications for the pre-qualification to tender for one, or several, of the four EPC packages, including a 859KTA steam cracker, 880KTA polymer units, a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) extraction unit (all with off-site works and utilities), and a 300 km long NGL pipeline.

The first stage involved pre-qualification of individual entities, while the second stage will focus on evidence of formation of the proposed JVs/consortia.

Only first stage pre-qualifiers will be permitted to participate in the second stage. The bidders were given the choice of applying for tier 1 (acting as single entities or lead partners in a future JV) or for tier 2 (acting as partners in a future JV). The first pre-qualification stage has clearly demonstrated Orpic's ability to attract very strong interest for LPP from globally prominent EPC contractors, with the envisaged number of strong pre-qualified bidders being achieved despite very stringent pre-qualification requirements. The following companies have been successful during the first stage and are now eligible to enter the second stage:

For the steam cracker project: Tier 1: CB&I, CTCI, Daelim, Hanwha, JGC, Samsung, Toyo. Tier 2: Bechtel, Essar, GS, Hyundai, Intecsa, Petrofac, Saipem, Tecnicas Reunidas, Tecnimont.

For the polymers project: Tier 1: Daelim, GS, Linde, Saipem, Samsung, Tecnimont, ThyssenKrupp. Tier 2: Bechtel, CTCI, Foster Wheeler, Intecsa, Larsen & Toubro, Mitsui, Petrofac, Sinopec, TECHINT, Tecnicas Reunidas.

For the NGL extraction project: Tier 1: Bechtel, Chiyoda, Fluor, GS, Hyundai, JGC, SK, Toyo. Tier 2: Black & Veatch, CB&I, CTCI, Foster Wheeler, Hyundai, Itochu, Larsen & Toubro, Mitsui, Saipem, TECHINT, Tecnicas Reunidas, Tecnimont.

For the NGL pipeline project: Tier 1: Bechtel, Dodsal, Larsen & Toubro, Punj Lloyd, Saipem, Tecnicas Reunidas. Tier 2: Consolidated Contractors, Essar, Gulf Petrochemical, KazStroyService, TECHINT, The Petroleum Projects Petrojet. It is Orpic's intention to issue the invitation to tender (ITT) for the four work packages to the pre-qualified applicants at the beginning of 2015, once the second stage of the pre-qualification has been completed. The ITT will be issued in two stages. The first stage is planned to start at the end of January 2015 with the basic design engineering package (BDEP) information and the conditions of contract to be issued to the bidders. It is then Orpic's intention to continue with the second stage at the end of March 2015 once the front-end engineering design (FEED) has been finalised.

Orpic plans to situate the Polymers and Cracker units next to its Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP). LPP will include an ethylene cracking plant, high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant, linear low density polyethylene plant (LLDPE), new polypropylene plant, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant, butene-1 plant and associated utilities and off-site facilities.

The petrochemical plant will be integrated with the Sohar refinery, aromatics complex and polypropylene plant.

The feedstock being considered are NGLs (C2+) removed from natural gas at an extraction plant at Fahud, then transported to the Sohar complex through a 300 km pipeline, and mixed Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) produced in the refinery and aromatics complex, along with dry gas produced in the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit (RFCC) and new delayed coking unit that is included in SRIP. Some of the materials produced in the petrochemical complex, including hydrogen, MTBE, pyrolysis fuel oil and pyrolysis gasoline will be returned to the refinery, aromatics complex and existing polypropylene plant.