KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: MEED magazine reported that there is no progress in implementing work at the Al-Zour Petrochemical Complex, although the Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC), which owns the project, is continuing feasibility studies on the project, estimated to cost about 10 billion dollars, reports Al-Anba daily.

The magazine added that a final decision to pump money into the project has not yet been made, nor has a timetable been revealed for approving it and then putting it out for tender.

The magazine pointed to concerns that the fact that the Quebec company is conducting more feasibility studies on the derivatives that the facility must produce will exacerbate concerns that a comprehensive overhaul of the project scope will be reconsidered, and this would lead to a long delay before the Main contracts are tendered.

The Al-Zour petrochemical project was first announced in 2006. The planned complex will be integrated with the 615,000 barrels per day Al-Zour refinery, which was recently commissioned.

This came in the context of the magazine's review of petrochemical projects in the region, noting that the global program of the Saudi Aramco and SABIC companies, which aims to convert liquids into chemicals, is expected to attract investments amounting to $100 billion, which will overshadow other regional plans for manufacturing industries.

This comes in line with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia moving forward with its ambition to become one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world by the end of this decade.

Its global program for converting liquids into chemicals includes expanding its portfolio of petrochemical assets at home and abroad.