KUWAIT: MP Khalil Al-Saleh, who has announced plans to grill Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair, yesterday sent him a number of questions on the reported delay in signing several contracts for the new Zour refinery. Saleh cited a report published in a local daily about Omair ordering Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) to delay signing the five contracts with international companies, which was supposed to take place in mid-October.

The lawmaker asked if the report was correct and if the minister has powers to order the delay, or are these powers entrusted in the CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) or the CEO of KNPC. Saleh also asked the minister that if he has no powers over signing the contracts, why did he interfere and order the delay.

The lawmaker asked if KNPC, which is responsible for the project, had obtained all the necessary approvals from various sides and made all the needed studies on the project. If the answer is positive, Saleh asked for copies of these procedures.

Saleh asked about the financial consequences of delaying the signing of the contracts at this late stage and what is the possibility that the international companies which won the contracts may pull out of the project or raise their bids.

The lawmaker also asked about the expected impact of the delay on supplying the ministry of electricity and water with the required fuels for its operations.

Finally, Saleh asked if the required environmental studies on the project had been carried out or not. The new refinery project has already been delayed several times due to different reasons.

A few months ago, authorities decided to revive the project and obtained approval to raise its budget from KD 4 billion to KD 4.8 billion after earlier bids came in higher than cost estimates.

The project has been divided into five packages and KNPC in coordination with the Central Tenders Committee has picked up the winning consortia for each of the five projects.

The official signing of the contracts was scheduled to take place next week. The oil minister said last week that mega projects, especially in the oil sector, will not be delayed because of the sharp drop in oil prices.

Named as Al-Zour Refinery, the new refinery will have a production capacity of 615,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, the criminal court yesterday set Nov 11 as the date to issue its verdict against prominent Sunni cleric Othman Al-Khamees over charges of hatred and spite against a religious sect.

By B Izzak