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Paris / Bloomberg
Algeria has awarded UK-based Amec Foster Wheeler the front end engineering design (Feed) for three green-field refinery projects, which are estimated to have a total budget of around $6bn.
A statement issued on 16 February by the state-controlled energy company Sonatrach said that the design contract for the three refineries has been “provisionally awarded to the tenderer Amec Foster Wheeler Italy for the amount of €17.3m“.
Technical bids were submitted in early November and evaluation began on 12 November and commercial bids were submitted earlier this year, according to a source. Each of the refineries are expected to have a capacity of between 60,000 and 100,000 barrels a day and a budget of $2-3bn.
According to the source, four companies submitted bids for the design contract: Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain), Amec Foster Wheeler (UK), Fluor (US), Wood Group Mustang (US). Sonatrach decided that a single company would be asked to undertake the design work for all three refineries as they will all be designed to similar specifications.
The refineries are intended to supply refined products to the domestic market, replacing imports. They will be built at inland locations at Tiaret in the northwest, at Biskra in the northeast, and at Hassi Messaoud near Algeria’s biggest oil field. It is thought that the Tiaret and Hassi Messaoud refineries may be constructed first with the Biskra refinery being added in a second phase.
In March 2013 the government announced plans to build five refineries, including the Tiaret, Biskra and Hassi Messaoud refineries. In addition another refinery was planned to be built on the coast and another was planned to be built in the Ghardaia region, which is located in north-central Algeria. It is thought that these two projects have been abandoned in order to focus on the refineries at Tiaret, Biskra and Hassi Messaoud. Originally the refineries were due to be comissioned in 2017. Due to delays analysts now expect the facilities to come online at a later date.