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Kuwait City: Kuwait is going ahead with plans to build the giant Al Zour oil refinery despite pressure from deputies to probe some contracts of the $15 billion project, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday.
State refinery arm Kuwait National Petroleum (KNPC) awarded deals worth $8.4 billion to four South Korean and one Japanese company with more work to be awarded at some stage later.
A parliamentary committee is investigating into whether some firms made lower bids than those who were offered contracts to build the 615,000 barrel per day Al Zour refinery.
"The project has followed all legal procedures," Oil Minister Mohammad Al Olaim said, adding that contracts had been awarded not just based on lowest prices but also technical considerations. "The project is going forward, it has not been halted. It is a very big developmental project that is very difficult to stop," he said, adding that final contracts would be signed soon.
"We are in the process of preparing the documents... it will not going to take long time," he said.
Member of Parliament Ali Al Hajeri said he was surprised the minister was defending the awarding of the contracts. "This whole issue is under the responsibility of the oil minister ... who is still defending these violations," Al Hajeri, a member in the committee scrutinising the refinery deals, said in a statement.
Media reaction
Local newspaper Al Seyassah said there are "serious threats to question" the oil minister in parliament. The parliament has a history of challenging the government, and the last assembly dedicated much time questioning ministers, which led to several resignations until the ruler called fresh elections in May.
The budget for Al Zour has more than doubled from initial estimates but the world's seventh-largest oil exporter has moved ahead with plans for the plant.
Kuwait plans to boost refining capacity to 1.415 million bpd from around 930,000 bpd with the new plant, and upgrade its Mina Abdullah and Mina Ahmadi refineries.
Al Olaim said a multibillion project to explore northern oil fields, dubbed as Project Kuwait, is still under discussion.
Islamists MPs have objected the involvement of foreign companies in the oil sector which led to the delay of the project for over a decade.
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