Al-Zour refinery further delayed

The 615,000 b/d Al-Zour oil refinery, expected to be one of the world’s largest, is facing further delays after the cabinet agreed to refer the project to the State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SABK) for investigation in response to protests against signing the final contracts by opposition members in the Popular Action Bloc. In May, state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) awarded four construction contracts worth $8.3bn to one Japanese and four South Korean companies. An estimated $2bn fifth contract was awarded to US project manager Fluor. Oil, Electricity and Water Minister Mohammed Al-Olaim had already gained support from a parliamentary committee to award the contracts after investigating claims that some contracts were not awarded to the lowest bidder.