Saudi Aramco lubricants JV to award expansion contract in Oct

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co (Luberef)expects to award a contract to double the capacity of a lubricants refinery in Yanbu this month,the company's spokesman said on Wednesday.

"It is expected the contracts will be awarded in October 2012, with a target date forcommissioning the project in the second half of 2015," the spokesman told Reuters.

South Korea's Samsung Engineering and Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Italy's Saipem and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas bid on Sept. 1 forthe project, seen costing $1 billion.

Luberef, 70 percent-owned by Saudi Aramco and 30 percent by Saudi JadwaIndustrial Investment, produces around 550,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of oil lubricants at itstwo refineries on the kingdom's Red Sea coast at Jeddah and Yanbu.

The capacity of the Yanbu refinery will double from the current 280,000 tpy of oillubricants, and the expansion will produce high quality base oil.

(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine, editing by Daniel Fineren)

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Keywords: LUBEREF REFINERY/AWARD