History

The Kuwait National Petroleum Company

Kuwait National Petroleum Company

The Kuwait National Petroleum Company is the national oil refining company of Kuwait. Established in October 1960, KNPC handles the responsibility of oil refining, gas liquefaction, and distribution of petroleum goods within the local market.- History :...

 released plans to build the refinery in July 2007. In May 2008, Kuwait National Petroleum Company awarded construction contracts. A consortium of Japan's JGC Corporation

JGC Corporation

JGC Corporation is a global engineering company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It is listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company was founded on 25 October 1928. In 1976, it changed its original name from Japan Gasoline Co. to JGC Corporation...

 and Korea's GS Engineering & Construction was awarded the largest contract covering the installation of six distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 and atmospheric residue desulphurisation units, and diesel, naphtha and kerosene hydrotreating plants. Korea's SK Engineering & Construction will construct hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

 plants, as well as compression and sulphur recovery units, Daelim Industrial Company

Daelim

Daelim Industrial was established in 1939, and its E&C and Petrochemical Groups are the main lead of the Daelim Business Conglomerate.Since 1970, Daelim has completed numerous projects in the Middle East and Southeast Asia...

 will construct storage tanks and Hyundai Engineering and Construction

Hyundai Engineering and Construction

Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. is a major construction company in South Korea which has carried out projects not only in Korea but around the world. The company was founded by Chung Ju-yung in 1947 as the Hyundai Civil Works Company, and was a major component of the Hyundai Group...

will do the marine works. The US' Fluor Corporation was awarded the offsites and utilities contract.

Technical features

The refinery is expected to have a capacity of 615000 oilbbl/d, making it the largest refinery in the Middle East. The refinery is expected to cost US$15 billion and to be operational by December 2011.