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Kuwait probes refinery deals

A parliamentary committee is investigating whether firms made lower bids than some of those offered contracts to build a US$15 billion oil refinery in Kuwait, the region's biggest refinery project, an MP said recently.

State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) last month awarded deals worth US$8.4 billion to four South Korean firms and a Japanese company to build the 615,000 barrels per day Al Zour refinery. "We have requested that the contracts not be finalised," MP Ali Al Hajeri, a member of petitions and complaints committee, said.

The committee was looking at whether KNPC had awarded deals based on the lowest bids after a company bidding for a marine export facility had complained it was not awarded a contract although it had made the lowest offer, he said. "Yes, this is an important project but public money is more important," Al Hajeri said, adding that the committee was now awaiting clarification by Oil Minister Mohammad Al Olaim before deciding on further steps.

The committee is investigating allegations there were bids US$78mn lower than those of South Korea's Daelim and Hyundai Engineering who won packages worth a total of US$2.3 billion.

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