Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) has signed a contract with Amec Foster Wheeler for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of two proposed complexes to be built in Al-Zour, Kuwait. The London-headquartered contractor won the tender as the project manager and consultant to carry out primary design work for a total cost of $34 million.

The third olefins and second aromatics complexes will be integrated with the refinery that is currently under construction at the site. The project, which has an initial total cost of $7.8 billion, will include plants producing 1.4 million t/y of paraxylene and 940,000 t/y of PP, along with 209,000 t/y of fuel using propane and naphtha from the refinery and 420,000 t/y of gasoline. Completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022.

Husneya Hashem, deputy CEO for olefins and aromatics at PIC, said the projects are one of PIC’s most important initiatives and seek to improve Kuwait’s position in the petrochemical industry. It is also a model of integration between the subsidiaries of parent group, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), she said.

KPC’s board approved construction of the petrochemicals complex after receiving the go-ahead from Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council.