Saudi's Sasref refinery gets revised tenders

Bidding companies have submitted revised proposals for the upgrade of a joint venture refinery of Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, executives at three firms said yesterday.

Japan's Chiyoda, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering, JGC Gulf International, a unit of Japan's JGC, Italy's Saipem, and Japan's Toyo Engineering are bidding for the Sasref refinery project estimated to cost $100 million (Dh367m), sources at bidders said.

"The closing date for bids was extended, we were requested to submit a revised proposal on December 2 and they (bids) are under evaluation," an executive at a bidding company said.

Technical and commercial bids were originally due on October 9. Bidders asked Sasref to extend the technical proposals deadline to October 31 and that of the commercial proposals to November 15, sources at the companies said.

Work on the 305,000 barrels per day refinery in Jubail, an industrial hub on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, will upgrade a unit and add new units to meet environmental standards, a company source said in August.

The companies expect Sasref to award the contract by the end of the year or early next year, the executives said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia raised crude production to as much as 8.5 million barrels a day as signs of a global economic recovery boost demand in Asia.

Saudi Arabia is pumping eight million to 8.5 million barrels a day, Khaled Al Buraik, Executive Director of state oil company Saudi Aramco, said. Output was about 8.19 million a day last month, after falling as low as 7.86 million a day in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Al Buraik told reporters in Kuwait, "Most demand for oil is coming from the Far East. Demand is increasing much slower than anticipated."

Opec agreed on record output cuts last year as the global recession curbed demand, dragging down prices. Oil futures have since risen 64 per cent in New York, recovering from a low of $32.40 a barrel last December.

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