Engineering contractor McDermott International has been tapped by Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) to provide basic engineering, technology and catalyst for an integrated Low Pressure Recovery (LPR) and Olefins Conversion Technology (OCT) unit as part of KIPIC's Petrochemical Refinery Integration Project (PRIZe) in Al Zour, Kuwait.

When the project is complete, the subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) will have capacity to produce 330,000 t/y of polymer grade propylene using refinery by-product streams. PRIZe will also add to the existing refinery a gasoline block, an aromatics block, an OCT unit and associated utility and offsite facilities.

McDermott said the new units will be closely integrated with the ZOR Refinery and LNGI projects.

The US contractor’s Lummus Technology arm is a major licensor for proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, as well as a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering technology. The company claims 3,100 patents and patent applications.