The state owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) expects to finalize a loan of well over $5b to finance its clean fuels project (CFP) by the end of the first quarter of 2017, reported Reuters.

CFP involves the upgrade and integration of the Mina Abdulla (MAB) refinery and Mina Al Ahmadi (MAA) refinery. The project will increase the combined capacity of the refineries from the existing 736,000b/d to 800,000b/d, and will lower the sulphur content of petroleum products to 5%, according to Hydrocarbon-Technology.com. The integration of both refineries will be performed under three separate contract packages, including one at MAA and two at MAB. The project is scheduled for completion in mid-2018.

In a related news, Egypt Oil&Gas wrote earlier that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce and Industry had approved a request from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to set a subsidiary under the name Kuwait Integrated Petrochemical Industries Company with an estimated capital of about $5.94b.