FW wins EPC contract on Saudi complex

Hamilton, Bermuda – Foster Wheeler Ltd (FW) has won a major engineering, procurement and construction contract at the Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (PETRORabigh) refinery and petrochemical complex at Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

PETRORabigh – a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd – awarded the contract to FW subsidiaries Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd and Foster Wheeler Arabia Ltd.

The FW companies are to carry out detailed design, procurement and management of the construction contractors for the utilities and offsite facilities. The contract covers interconnecting process and utility piping; flare, water, air and power systems; instrumentation and control rooms; electrical distribution substations, among other facilities.

“We have been working with PETRORabigh on the overall Rabigh Development Project for 18 months executing the feasibility study and developing the front-end engineering design,” said Steve Davies, chairman and CEO of Foster Wheeler Energy, in a 14 Feb announcement.

Scheduled for completion in 2008, the Rabigh complex will represent one of the largest integrated refining and petrochemical construction projects.

The project features a new high-olefins fluid catalytic cracker complex, which is being integrated with an ethane-based cracker. This will produce around 1500 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of ethylene, 900 ktpa of propylene, and 60,000 barrels per day of gasoline as well as other refined products.

The site will also feature downstream units to convert the olefin production into petrochemical products, such as linear low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide and mono ethylene glycol.

Saudi Aramco's existing refinery and infrastructure at Rabigh is to serve as the base platform for the development and is being upgraded to produce more transportation fuels.