Iraq’s State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) has signed an engineering, production and construction (EPC) contract with a consortium led by Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction for a refinery at Karbala (see map, p10). This is the Ministry of Oil’s most straightforward new refinery project: doubts hang over plans for both the Nasiriya and Misan greenfield plants, while Nineveh governorate complicated matters by announcing a plan to build its own refinery independent of Baghdad.
Hyundai E&C confirmed on 19 February that it has received a $6.04bn order from SCOP for the 140,000 b/d capacity Karbala refinery, along with fellow Korean firms Hyundai Engineering, GS Engineering and Construction and SK Engineering and Construction. The two Hyundai units have a combined 37.5% stake in the project, with GS holding 37.5% and SK 25%. The contract period is 54 months, which means plant start-up is anticipated in 2019. (CONTINUED - 617 WORDS)
