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 for commissioning 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 for the project, seen costing $1 billion.
Luberef, 70 percent-owned by Saudi Aramco and 30 percent by Saudi Jadwa Industrial Investment, produces around 550,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of oil lubricants at its two 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 oil lubricants, and the expansion will produce high quality base oil.
(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine, editing by Daniel Fineren)
((Reem.Shamseddine@thomsonreuters.com)(+96638592898)(Reuters Messaging: reem.shamseddine.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: LUBEREF REFINERY/AWARD