Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (Orpic) 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 Liwa Plastics Project (LPP) petrochemical complex in Sohar. 

The Liwa project is estimated at $3.6 billion.

The pre-qualification tender invited applications for one, or several, of the four EPC packages, including a 859KTA steam cracker, 880KTA polymer units, a natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction unit, and a 300km-long NGL pipeline, Muscat Daily reported, adding that the first stage involved pre-qualification of individual entities, while the second stage will focus on the formation of the proposed joint ventures (JVs) and consortia.

Only first stage pre-qualifiers will be allowed to take part in the second stage. Bidders were given the choice to either apply for tier one (acting as single entities or lead partners in a future JV) or for tier two (acting as partners in a future JV).

It is worth noting that the first stage of pre-qualification has demonstrated Orpic’s ability to attract strong interest for LPP from prominent contractors, with the number of strong prequalified bidders being achieved despite strictly stringent requirements, a press release revealed.   

Photo Credit: Arabianeye-Reuters