Kuwait may re-tender contracts to build the country's fourth oil refinery after scrapping a tender to build the plant earlier this year following parliamentary opposition, a newspaper said.

An unidentified official at state-run Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) expected the re-tendering process to start after the announcement of Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), daily Al-Watan said.

The SPC is Kuwait's top energy decision-making body.

Kuwait is likely to hire a consultancy firm to evaluate the project, which would be supervised by the Central Tenders Committee, the official said, according to the paper.

KNPC could not immediately be reached for comment. KNPC said in March it had informed the companies that were awarded contracts to build its $15 billion 615,000 barrels per day refinery the tender was cancelled, adding the decision to scrap the tender does not mean the project will be dropped.

In May 2008, KNPC awarded deals worth $8.4 billion to four South Korean firms and one Japanese firm for the Al-Zour refinery.

The project has faced political problems. Several lawmakers in parliament have alleged violations, such as handing out a package to US firm Fluor Corp  without a tender. - Reuters