Kuwait, the fourth largest oil producer in the Middle East, will receive bids from contractors in December to build a new refinery, state news agency Kuna reported Monday.

Companies have time until Dec. 16 to submit their proposals for the 615,000-barrel-a-day refinery to be located at Al Zour, Kuna cited Kuwait National Petroleum Corp.'s managing director and chairman of the board, Farouk Al Zanki, as saying.

KNPC recently held a contractors' meeting in Houston to present potential bidders with contractual details and to stress the need to stick with the project's schedule, Al Zanki said, according to Kuna.

The refinery, Kuwait's fourth, is due to start operating in 2011, Kuna reported.

Al-Zour is planned to produce low-sulfur fuel oil for the country's power plants.

The country's existing three refineries have capacity to process about 900,000 b/d of crude oil.

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