Kuwait has approved bids worth US$12bn to upgrade two refineries, as part of the "Clean Fuels Project", which aims to upgrade and extend Kuwait's largest refineries. National oil company KNPC has awarded a KWD 1.361bn contract (US$4.82bn) to a consortium led by JGC for works at the 460,000 bbl/d Mina Ahmadi. KNPC also awarded two contracts for the upgrade of the 270,000 bbl/d Mina Abdullah refinery (KWD 1.07bn, i.e. US$3.8bn to Petrofac and KWD 962m, i.e. US$3.4bn, to Fluor). Foster Wheeler had been awarded the management and service contract for the clean fuels project in December 2012 (US$500m). The project should raise the process capacities of the refineries from 264,000 bbl/d to 800,000 bbl/d by 2018. Contracts are expected to be signed in April 2014 and construction should start shortly afterwards.
Kuwait also plans to invest KWD4bn (US$14.2bn) in the construction of a new refinery in Al Zour, which would replace the older Shuaiba refinery (200,000 bbl/d).