Contact:Mr. Pavol Parak, Slovnaft, a.s., Vlcie hrdlo, 824 12 Bratislava, Slovak Republic, Phone: 011-421-7-245-049, Fax: 011-421-7-244-803

C -- FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE SLOVNAFT ETHYLENE PLANT MODERNIZATION POC Evangela Kunene, USTDA, 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131, Tel: (703) 875-4357, Fax: (703) 875-4009 Feasibility Study for the Slovnaft Ethylene Plant Modernization Feasibility Study. The Grantee invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the "Proposal") from interested U.S. firms which are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to develop a feasibility study for modernizing ethylene production facilities in the Slovak Republic owned by Slovnaft, a.s. Slovnaft, a.s. is a crude oil refinery and petrochemical company which has almost 5000 employees and is located in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. It was founded in 1895 as Apollo Refinery and in 1949 it became Slovnaft, a.s. It became a joint-stock company in 1992 and currently has approximately 90% private ownership with the Slovak government holding the remaining 10% of the shares. The company has four divisions: Refinery Unit; Petrochemicals and Plastics; Lube Oil Production; and Utilities. The Petrochemical Division produces ethylene and propylene for use as feed stocks for Slovnaft's polyethylene and polypropylene plants. Revenues in 1995 were over $1 billion. The ethylene plant, which started production in 1976 utilizes ABB Lummus technology and currently has the capacity to produces 200,000 metric tons per year of ethylene using refinery gaseous feed stocks and naphtha. When the heavy residue upgrading project unit being constructed by Raytheon is complete in 1999 additional feed stock will be available for the ethylene plant and Slovnaft will be able to increase ethylene production from 200,000 metric tons per year up to 300,000 metric tons per year. To increase the present capacity of the plant Slovnaft needs to add additional cracking furnaces, modify existing steam turbines and compressors, upgrade production technology, and make substantial revisions to the purification train. The current steam crackers are designed to operate using a combination of refinery gaseous feed stocks and naphtha. The revamped plant will use material produced by the new heavy petroleum residue unit, in addition to the refinery gaseous feed stocks and naphtha. The proposed feasibility study will be oriented towards examining the economics of expanding the existing facility. The report will cover the following topics: A. Review of existing facilities and operations; B. Review of feed, utility, and labor costs and supply; C. Detailed heat and material balances; D. Review of process and pollution control technology options, including preliminary cost analysis; E. Complete conceptual design; F. Definitive cost analysis of selected option; G. Project finance options and plan; H. Environmental impact assessment; and I. Project implementation plan. The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $300,000 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA). A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and a background definitional mission/desk study report are available from TDA, at 1621 N. Kent Street, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209-2131.Requests for the RFP should be faxed to the IRC, TDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm's name, contact person, address, and telephone number. Some firms have found that RFP materials sent by U.S. mail do not reach them in time for preparation of an adequate response. Firms that want TDA to use an overnight delivery service should include the name of the delivery service and your firm's account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to TDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to TDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. Please check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, TDA cannot respond to requests for fax verification. Requests for RFPs received before 4:00 PM will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling TDA. Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this TDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under TDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the TDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the TDA-financed activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm shall have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. or host country. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from the host country for up to 20 percent of the TDA grant amount. Details of TDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP. Interested U.S. firms should submit their Proposal in English directly to the Grantee by 4:00 pm, August 28, 1997, at the above address. Evaluation criteria for the Proposal are included in the RFP. Price will not be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Grantee reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The Grantee also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Grantee is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals. (0209)

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