Kuwait is planning a $75-billion infrastructure spending on energy, power and housing projects until 2016 – a move that is raising optimism about the projects market in the country and the economy in general. By next month, commercial proposals would have been received for the three packages that make up the $17bn Clean Fuels Project (CFP), a scheme that involves a major revamp of Kuwait's three existing refineries to improve their efficiency and meet higher international fuel standards. Earlier, the project management consultancy contract for the $14bn New Refinery Project (NFP) has been awarded, signaling a turn of fortune for Kuwait's energy sector. Once completed, these projects will have a significant impact on the country's economy.
Just recently, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has issued a long-awaited tender for the $4.2 billion Lower Fars heavy oil development. Bids are expected in late January 2014 for one of the largest upstream projects in the region. The single engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender includes five main parts covering a steam injection facility, production facilities, a support complex, tank farms and a 270,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) pipeline to transport the heavy crude to the planned new refinery in the south of Kuwait. Although its production target is relatively modest, the fact that it is planned as a single EPC project sets it apart.
Over the next five years, the oil and gas sector in Kuwait will be the main beneficiary of a hopefully more realistic and intensive approach to key investments. However, the renewed optimism is rubbing off on other sectors such as the planned investments in the healthcare sector, valued at $3bn, over the next five years; and the $1.2bn Kuwait University Campus project.
Arab Times
22 November
