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LONDON—Saudi Arabian Oil Company, known as Saudi Aramco, has released the full commercial and technical tenders for its planned $2 billion clean fuels project at its Ras Tanura refinery, according to people familiar with the project.

The long-awaited project, which has been delayed by at least two years, is aimed at providing Saudi Aramco with cleaner gasoline and diesel for domestic consumption and export. This will be achieved by rehabilitating the existing facilities at the 550,000 barrel a day refinery as well as adding new units to lower the sulfur and benzene content of both fuels.

The vast majority of work at the scheme has been split into two large packages.

Package 1 covers the engineering, procurement and construction, known as EPC, of a naphtha processing facility at the refinery. The scope will include the EPC of all the main technical units that are planned for the scheme as well as power distribution and control systems.

Package 2 covers offsites and utilities at the project and will include the EPC of the all tanks, substations and buildings at the project.

A total of 11 international contractors have been prequalified to bid for the work, with seven bidding on both packages and a further four on Package 2. The seven bidding on both are South Korea's Daelim Industrial Co., Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Samsung Engineering Co. and GS Engineering & Construction as well as Japan's JGC Corp., Italy's Saipem SpA and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas SA.

The four contractors bidding solely on Package 2 are South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. and Hanwha Engineering & Construction as well as India's Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and the London-listed Petrofac.

The deadline for both technical and commercial bids for both packages is May 11. People familiar with the project said Saudi Aramco should make a decision on the successful bidders sometime in the third quarter of 2016, with work starting by the end of the year. A 36-month construction phase is expected meaning commissioning should start by early 2020.

A source from an international contractor told The Wall Street Journal that many of the bidders believe the project will offer them the last chance to secure a sizable contract in Saudi Arabia's oil and gas sector for some time.

"We can't see anything else in the pipeline for the near future and there has been no indication [from Aramco] that there will be any big projects for the next 12-18 months," the source said in a telephone interview.

Ras Tanura is wholly owned by Saudi Aramco and is the largest oil refinery in the Middle East. It is situated on the Persian Gulf coast in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Aramco declined to comment when contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

Write to Kevin Baxter at Kevin.Baxter@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2016 09:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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