JoPetrol receives bids for $2.6b expansion project

AMMAN — The Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JoPetrol) on Wednesday received bids from three consortiums comprising seven major Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and English companies to win the fourth refinery expansion project at a cost expected to exceed $2.6 billion.

The company, which employed external technical, financial and legal advisers, had pre-qualified these companies thanks to its long history and experience in the field of oil refinery projects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Each of the bids received consisted of a technical offer, a financing offer and a financial offer. JoPetrol has already begun to open technical offers for its engineers and consultants to evaluate the offers before opening the financing and financial offers.

Given the importance of this national project, which would enhance the Kingdom's energy security, the company said that it would make every effort to select the winner as quickly as possible, taking into account the importance of the project's accuracy and quality.

Last January, JoPetrol invited the companies to submit their bids and provided them with copies of the bid terms, followed by responding to hundreds of inquiries from the contractors and then enabled them to visit the refinery and the project site in east Zarqa.

The project cost is expected to exceed $2.6 billion, financed by export credit agencies from different countries, in addition to contributions from existing and new shareholders.