Contracts & Projects: May 2011

6 Jun 2011

Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) is investing Euro90m to expand production of polycarbonate at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany, by 70ktpa to gradually reach 400ktpa over the next four years. BMS is also currently rebuilding chlorine production facilities to increase energy efficiency, adding new membrane technology and its oxygen depolarised cathode technology to reduce both electricity use and indirect CO2 emissions up to 30%.

The Government of Saskatchewan has approved construction of the $1.24bn Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration project. Energy company SaskPower has chosen SNC Lavalin to oversee detailed engineering, prourement and construction activities at the Boundary Dam project. Cansolv, part of Shell Global Solutions, will supply the carbon capture process. Hitachi will supply a steam turbine - the first in the world designed to fully integrate a coal-fired power plant with carbon capture technology. Read more

Bayer MaterialScience is to invest $120m in its Baytown, Texas, site, including: MDI – environmenntal upgrades, reliability improvements and minor debottlenecking; TDI – improved process technology, environmental upgrades, and energy efficiency and reliability improvements to increase productivity; Polycarbonate – reliability upgrades and quality improvements for advanced optical applications; and improving the reliability of the infrastructure throughout the site.

Linde Group will build and operate a large hydrogen and synthesis gas plant in the Chongqing Chemical Park in western China, in a joint enterprise with Chongqing Chemical & Pharmaceutical Holding Co. (CCPHC). The project has a total investment value of around Euro200m. Linde holds 60% of the shares in the joint enterprise with CCPHC. In future, the new on-site plant will provide the production facilities of BASF and CCPHC in Chongqing with carbon monoxide, hydrogen and synthesis gas.

County Durham-based Perry Process Equipment has noted strong global demand for its used process machinery across all sectors. Recent export projects include the purchase and dismantling of a meat rendering plant from Italy, which was sold to Dutch compay Sonac Burgum in a £2m deal and installed in its Polish and Netherlands plants; and a rare large batch fluid bed dryer from Europe, which was refurbished and shipped to Australia for a worldwide confectionery manufacturer. Read more

Chronos BTH is installing a robot palletising system at the bakery ingredients supplier British Bakels Ltd’s powder blending and production unit at Bicester, Oxfordshire. The new system will palletise 10kg to 25kg sized bags produced from two existing packing lines. Read more

Spanish group Taim Weser is to supply the equipment require for the modernisation of the Los Hornillos waste processing plant in Quart de Poblet, Valencia, a facility that has received and processed urban waste (UW) from the districts of the Valencia metropolitan area since 1968. Read more

SQS Software Quality Systems AG, a supplier of independent software testing and quality management services, has recently signed an £8m/12-month, managed-services contract with UK energy group Centrica plc. SQS is to provide onshore and offshore testing, with a focus on raising quality and reducing risk within their business critical systems such as Centrica’s smart metering programme, which is designed to be installed in over 2m homes.

Coeur Manquiri, part of US-based Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., recently purchased three MC Press filter presses from Siemens Water Technologies for its San Bartolome mine in Potosi, Bolivia. The dewatering filter presses will allow improved dry stacked tailings management on site. The MC Press filter presses are expected to become operational later this year.

Bosch Rexroth Ltd, on 3 May, completed its acquisition of Wakefield-based Hagglunds Drives Ltd, which will now be fully integrated into the Bosch Group by 1 June. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will advance Rexroth’s position in the bulk materials, process and marine and offshore markets, where Hagglunds supplies hydraulic motor and drive products.

John Crane GmbH has recently won a contract to supply engineered sealing technology solutions to a major Australian LNG production project, with the capacity to produce 18m tonnes of LNG. Crane will supply 96 of its advanced Type 28 gas seals for first-fit applications to Siemens AG, which will provide compressors for the upstream section of the AP-LNG project in Queensland. This project will involve extracting and transporting coal seam gas for conversion into LNG in the future. The order also includes 216 of John Crane’s tilting-pad journal and double-thrust hydrodynamic bearings.

KBR has been named as subcontractor by Dragados Offshore SA for the detailed engineering work on the South Arne Phase 3 project, an expansion of the South Arne field in the Danish sector of the North Sea. The EPC award to Dragados includes two wellhead platform topsides, the two jackets supporting these platforms, as well as detailed engineering and procurement assistance. The detailed engineering work will be performed by KBR from its Leatherhead offices. Completion is due in Q2/12.

Wood Group has completed the sales of its well support division to GE Energy Manufacturing Inc. As previously announced, Jim Renfroe, formerly group director, well support, resigned as a director of Wood Group following completion of the deal, on 26 April.

KBR has been awarded a $65 million contract by Chevron Products Co. to execute a base oil expansion project at Chevron’s refinery in Pascagoula, MS. The construction project includes building a new lubes hydrocracker and a lube dewaxing/hydrofinishing unit. Work is set to begin in May, and upon completion, the facility is expected to be one of the largest premium base oil plants in the world.

Metso is to supply an energy management system to Pori Energia in Pori, Finland. It will be used to enhance the efficiency of production planning and overall operations: collecting data from the power plants’ information systems, steam consumers and service providers. Read more

CB&I has been awarded a project, worth over $45m, for storage tanks at an oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The contract covers the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction of 12 cone roof tanks at the oil sands project, and is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Dow Chemical Co. plans to increase its ethylene and propylene production and to exploit increasing supplies of shale gas in the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shale regions. Read more

Danone Baby Nutrition has placed a Euro25m order with GEA Process Engineering for an expansion/upgrade of its facility in Macroom, Ireland - part of a new Euro50m investment plan. Plant capacity is to triple to 100ktpa, due to the creation of a new drying line. The project design phase began in February and commercial operations are to start in Q1/12. The plan will create 40 jobs at the plant in food science, engineering and supply chain management and 200 jobs during construction.

Chevron USA Inc. has awarded KBR a contract to execute detailed design engineering for the Jack & St. Malo floating production unit (FPU), in the Lower Tertiary trend in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Jack and St. Malo fields are within 25 miles of one another about 280 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, in water depths of 7,000 feet. KBR will provide design and engineering support through fabrication for the deep draft semi-submersible.

QGC, a BG Group business, has awarded Aberdeen-based qedi – recently acquired by AMEC – a three-year contract on the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) development. The firm is to implement its GO Technology for well completions, commissioning and start-up. QGC is developing coal seam gas in the Surat basin of southern Queensland. The gas will then be transported via a 540km buried pipeline to Curtis Island, near Gladstone, where it will be liquefied.

Metso has received a Euro20m order to convert a coal-fired CFB boiler to a biomass-fired boiler for Elektrociep?ownia Tychy SA in southern Poland. The conversion is part of a production capacity reconstruction programme at EC Tychy, a subsidiary of Tauron Group, one of the largest energy companies in Poland. Read more

Redhall Engineering Solutions Ltd has agreed a £1.2 million settlement with its former employees on its contract with Vivergo Fuels Ltd. The workers lost their jobs when Vivergo terminated the contract on 14 March. Parent company the Redhall Group said is still intends to pursue recovery of all of its outstanding costs plus damages from Vivergo.

KBR has been awarded an EPC contract by KiOR Inc. to build a ’first-of-its-kind’ biomass-to-renewable crude facility in Columbus, Miss – to process around 500t/day of wood biomass and produce over 11m gallons of fuel per year. The unit will employ KiOR’s proprietary technology to convert biomass into ’drop-in’ biofuels such as gasoline and diesel blendstocks and be be based on the design and construction of traditional fluid catalytic cracking units.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has completed the acquisition of Aker Projects (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Aker Solutions’ onshore P&C operations in China. The acquisition expands Jacobs’ presence in China and the region.

RWE Dea Norge has been awarded two licences in the recent licensing round by the Norwegian government: a 30% share in the license PL609 in the Barents Sea and a 15% share in the license PL596 in the Norwegian Sea. RWE Dea Norge, which has already been awarded three licences on the Norwegian Shelf, aims to boost its annual gas and oil production to more than 70 million barrel of oil equivalents by 2016.

Aker Solutions has signed two $115m contracts with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the delivery of complete drilling equipment packages for two new deepwater drillships. The drilling equipment and systems will be installed on the two vessels being constructed at DSME’s yard in South Korea. The drillship deliveries are scheduled for Q4/13, with most of the equipment to be delivered in 2012.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has received a $21.8m contract from Masan Resources Corp. for a major mining and minerals project near Hanoi, Vietnam. Jacobs’ offices in Brisbane, Australia are executing the project work with detailed engineering support from its Mumbai office. The scope of services for the project includes engineering and procurement for a new minerals processing facility at a poly-metallic (tungsten, bismuth, fluorspar, copper and gold) deposit, which will be mined using conventional open-pit methods and equipment.

Imtech NV has received electrical and instrumentation orders to a total value of over Euro35m in Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. In Kazakhstan, Imtech is working structurally on the technical infrastructure for the extraction of oil in one of the largest oil fields in the world. At the same time in Saudi Arabia, Imtech is working on a project basis as a technology partner for food manufacturer Almarai.

Helius CoRDe Ltd - a JV between Helius Energy plc, Rabo Project Equity BV and The Combination of Rothes Distillers Ltd - has awarded construction contracts worth over £44m for its 7.2MW biomass CHP project at Rothes, Morayshire. Read more

Redhall Group plc has announced new contracts worth over £10m by AWE, British Energy, Chevron and Conoco Phillips – in addition to a four-year, £20m-plus contract win with AWE announced 28 Feb. However, it admitted uncertainty around the size of any exceptional item in relation to the recently terminated Vivergo contract. “We continue to pursue our case against Vivergo Fuels Limited in order that we can proceed to a resolution as soon as possible,” Redhall said.

Yokogawa Electric Corp. has been selected by ANDRITZ of Graz, Austria, as a global partner for the provision of process control systems, field instruments, and process analysers for their customers’ metal and pulp & paper plants. The agreement amis to standardise the terms and conditions of contracts and promote greater efficiency in the global purchase and supply of products, systems, and services.

Metso is to supply all main technology for the 1,500ktpa greenfield pulp mill of Suzano Papel e Celulose SA, to be built in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. Start-up is due H1/13. Metso said a typical value of an order of this size and scope is Euro800-900m, covering all suppliers. Metso’s scope of supply covers wood handling, cooking plant and fibreline, pulp drying and baling, evaporation, power boiler, recovery boiler, causticizing and lime kiln, including an integrated automation system for all process areas.

Statoil is to exercise extension options with Aker Solutions for the EPC of three subsea work-over systems for use on the Norwegian Continental Shelf – representing a combined contract value of around NOK1.25bn. In February, Statoil awarded Aker a contract for one workover system to be used on the Vigdis North East development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It is options from this contract which have been exercised. The project will be managed at Aker’s Tranby Technology and Manufacturing Centre outside Oslo. Manufacture of the well control package and riser elements will be completed at Tranby and the workover control module out of Aberdeen.

Wood Group has announced the completion of the UK merger control process for its acquisition of PSN (Production Services Network Ltd). The deal, it said, is now expected to complete on 20 April.

Statoil Petroleum AS has awarded Foster Wheeler a pre-FEED contract for the Snøhvit Future Development Project at Statoil’s Melkøya-based LNG facility on Melkøya Island, about 450km north of the Arctic Circle, Hammerfest, Norway. Read more

J P Kenny Pty and its related Wood Group Kenny sister companies, are to perform subsea and pipelines FEED for the Browse LNG development, offshore Western Australia. The 12-15-month FEED project began in February, based at the Browse Project office in Perth. First gas from Browse is expected in 2017. Wood Group Kenny is also doing riser FEED work for Browse, through MCS Kenny, and will support Aker Solutions in delivering design and engineering solutions for the steel catenary risers on Browse.

Heinz is saving 6% of the average steam load per year at its baked bean factory in Wigan - the largest food plant in Europe - by recovering energy from effluent using a system designed and built by Spirax Sarco. Read more

Saudi Aramco has awarded KBR’s newly-established Middle East-based Engineering Company an engineering and project management services contract, under its General Engineering Services Plus (GES+) initiative. Partners in the new engineering company include Abdulhadi and Al-Moaibed Consulting Engineering Co. and Kellogg, Brown and Root. The GES+ contract period is for five years with options for extensions. The company is to execute FEED, detailed design, material procurement, and project management services (PMS) to support Saudi Aramco’s capital programs.

Nexans has won a ’multi-million Euros’ turnkey contract at the new Petrobras COMPERJ petrochemical complex currently under construction in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The contract was awarded Toshiba Sistemas de Trasmissão e Distribuição do Brazil Ltda. Read more

Arjowiggins Creative Papers has awarded ABB a contract to provide new automation technology at its Stoneywood Mill in Aberdeen, Scotland. The new systems are part of a modernisation project that will increase productivity, product quality and energy efficiency at Arjowiggins, which manufactures creative and technical paper. Read more

Under one of the UK’s biggest ever industrial energy supply contracts npower will provide energy to 22 Tata Steel plants across the UK – equivalent to around 5TWh of energy. Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler, MD and CEO of Tata Steel Europe, said: “We operate in a very volatile and challenging energy environment nowadays … We need an energy supplier committed to managing our requirements.” Read more

ABB has won a $58 million order from QGC Pty Ltd, part of the BG Group, to provide integrated automation, safety and telecommunications systems and related equipment for a new upstream coal seam gas project in Queensland, Australia. ABB was appointed the main automation contractor for the project. Read more

Woodside has selected MODEC of Houston, Texas, as one of two companies to perform the FEED for two dry tree units (DTUs) for the Browse LNG Development. As the Browse operator, Woodside leads a group of oil and gas majors – BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, and Shell. MODEC will use its ’ring pontoon tension leg platform’ design for the Browse DTUs for the Calliance and Brecknock fields. The FEED is due the end of August 2011.

CB&I has won a contract from Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. (KPI) for the license and basic engineering of a propane dehydrogenation unit and a polypropylene plant – part of a KPI gas processing complex to be built in the western Atyrau region. The dehydrogenation unit will make use of the Catofin technology for converting propane to propylene. The PP plant will use the Novolen gas-phase technology.

Haldor Topsøe has won the contract for the second out of four SNG projects approved by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.The Hui Neng Group’s plant in Inner Mongolia will produce SNG (substitute natural gas) based on syngas from coal gasification, which will be converted into LNG. Topsøe will be licensor for the methanation section and will supply license, engineering design, catalyst and service. The plant has a planned capacity of 1.6bn Nm³ per year SNG production to LNG, and the first execution phase is 400m Nm³ per year SNG. It will start up by Q4/13.

Foster Wheeler is to do a feasibility study, by Q3/11, for an expansion of the Bahrain National Gas Co. (BANAGAS) LPG facilities in Bahrain. The aim is to raise throughput to 285m standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of associated gas and 18 MMSCFD of refinery offgas by 2014. FW will develop options for modifying and expanding the existing facilities and then help select the preferred option(s) for implementation.

Statoil has awarded Wood Group a three-year framework contract to deliver multi-discipline engineering studies for its onshore and offshore facilities worldwide. The contract also includes two two-year extension options. Studies will include concept feasibility, concept selection, concept definition, FEED phases and system engineering for all types of facilities. Wood Group will draw on its global expertise, including its Aberdeen and Woking operations. Wood Group companies have previously delivered work to Statoil on several projects in locations including Norway, Canada, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico as well as for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Windfarm in the UK.

Fluor Corp. has won a six-month early engineering works contract by Tata Steel for a new production gas-fired power plant to be built at IJmuiden in The Netherlands. The EPC phase is expected to commence at the end of 2011. Read more

Holroyd Precision of Milnrow, Lancs has manufactured “the biggest CNC helical profile milling system ever made.” The £2.5m machine for a major Chinese compressor manufacturer is to be used for the roughing and finishing of outsize screw compressor rotors for use in the gas processing industry. Weighing 8t, the stainless steel rotors need a special machine tool to handle diameters of up to 850 mm with a length of up to 4.5m. In addition to mounting 600mm diameter cutters to machine massive components, the cutter head had to allow for the mounting of cutters of only 400mm diameter to manufacture smaller components.

Babcock-Hitachi has contracted Emerson to install its Plantweb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at units 9 and 10 of the Dangjin thermal power plant in South Korea. The 1,000MW ultra-supercritical units are due to be commissioned in 2016. Read more

Wood Group has been awarded a non-exclusive, three-year services agreement by Woodside Energy Ltd for brownfield project delivery at certain onshore and offshore facilities. It covers engineering, from studies and concept, through to design and implementation for Woodside’s production project group, and has three one-year extension options. In Q4/10, Wood Group gained a separate three-year engineering services deal with Woodside’s projects development group.

Saudi Aramco has awarded Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. a major contract for general engineering and project management services (GES+). The five-year deal covers all engineering, procurement and construction management services for Saudi Aramco’s ’capital program’. Under the contract award, Jacobs is providing a variety of design and related services, as well as the full range of project management services.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) is negotiating a minimum, one-year contract with Aggreko for the rental of 200MW of emergency power – 100MW of gas-fired and 100MW of diesel-fired generation. Given the challenges facing the Japanese power supply, Aggreko said it has started mobilisation of the equipment for installation at sites in the Tokyo Bay area to sustain the supply of electricity to consumers and industry which has been seriously affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. The Aggreko plant is expected to start delivering power to the grid in June.

Air Liquide has signed a long-term agreement for the supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to a new Severstal steel plant in Balakovo, Volga district. Air Liquide will invest Euro40m to build and operate a new air separation unit with a capacity of over 300t/ day of oxygen, to start up year-end 2012. The plant will also supply other industrial customers in the area.

BP Exploration and Production has selected AMEC to programme manage its existing portfolio of onshore and offshore projects in the North Sea – a £60m, four-year contract. As part of the BP-AMEC onshore global agreement announced last year, the award covers projects to the west of Shetland, Northern North Sea, Southern North Sea and the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. AMEC’s work will range from FEED through to construction management for multiple EPC projects.

EFC Group has announced a recent contract win with Transocean for its choke & well control systems, and secured work with the Al Ghaith Group for National Drilling Co. of Abu Dhabi.The Aberdeen-based company is to supply a choke control system for use onboard Transocean’s Paul B Loyd Jr North Sea rig for a six-figure value. Read more

GMB listing of potential UK power projects awaiting government (Section 36) approval, as of 1 March 2011: Read more

CNPC Jilin Petrochemical Co., northeast China’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical production facility is employing process optimisation software, from Invensys, to better respond in real time to changes in feedstock variation, process conditions and utilities prices to achieve sustainable energy savings. Read more

SunPower Corp. has awarded Fluor the contract for the construction of the 20MW Copper Crossing photovoltaic solar power plant in Pinal County, Arizona. Iberdrola Renewables is developing Copper Crossing and will own and operate the facility.

Huntsman (Europe) BVBA has awarded Foster Wheeler a FEED contract for an expansion of its isocyanates facility at Caojing, China. FW’s scope includes front-end engineering, technology licensor management and development of the project schedule and cost estimates. The FEED phase is due for completion Q3/11, with the overall project scheduled for mechanical completion by Q4/13.

BP has signed four new coalbed methane (CBM) production sharing contracts (PSCs) in the Barito basin of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. BP and co-owner Pertamina were jointly awarded the Tanjung IV CBM PSC by the government of Indonesia. BP will hold a 44% stake in the PSC with Pertamina holding 56%. BP and co-owner PT Sugico Graha have the Kapuas I, II and III CBM PSCs through a direct offer from the government. BP will hold a 45% in the PSCs with Sugico holding 55%.

BP Oil UK Ltd has appointed AMEC to carry out the engineering, procurement and construction management of capital investment projects for existing facilities at its UK oil storage terminals in 2011. The EPCm contract covers all of BP Oil’s mainland UK and N. Ireland storage terminals, and is in addition to AMEC’s recent onshore and offshore global agreements with BP. Read more

BP has extended its maintenance and modification contract, signed in 2005, with Aker Solutions, exercising a one-year option (to April 2012) in the existing agreement for the Ula, Valhall, Hod and Tambar fields. The contract value is around NOK200-300m, and includes engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and maintenance support services.

Alfa Laval has received an order in Germany for oil treatment modules to a big diesel power plant project. The order value is about SEK60m and delivery is scheduled for 2012. The customised oil-treatment module is for the German diesel engine builder MAN Diesel & Turbo SE.

Aker Solutions has been awarded a letter of intent by Statoil for the EPC of a subsea production system for the Fossekall-Dompap project on the Norwegian continental shelf. Aker Solutions estimates the contract value at around NOK1bn. Scope of work includes three template-manifold structures, 11 subsea trees, a control system and a tie-in system.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. is in talks with EPC contractors regarding a feasibility study to construct a world-scale ethane cracker and ethylene derivatives facilities at one of its existing US Gulf Coast sites. The company aims to exploit the ’advantaged feedstock’ position of US shale gas resources. The feasibility study is due to be complete by the end of 2011.

Lonza is to invest £16 million to develop its Slough, UK biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility: adding a new fermentation suite, new purification suites, new process development laboratories and a new GMP warehouse. Read more

Welsh renewable energy group Eco2 aims to start construction of a straw-fired power station in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, in September, with operation to start two years later. The project will generate 40MWe using technology designed for the clean combustion of straw.
It will involve local straw contracts, worth around £6m a year, 30 jobs in operation; 50 in fuel supply. Ash is to be recycled for fertiliser

BASF and Petronas are launching a feasibility study for a new superabsorbent polymers plant, and considering expanding existing capacities of their JV BASF Petronas Chemicals’ integrated complex at Gebeng, Pahang. The JV is is 60%-owned by BASF, 40% by Petronas with a total investment of about RM3.4 billion for production facilities for acrylic monomers, oxo products and butanediol.

Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by JSC Novo-Ufimsky Refinery, part of Russian oil major Bashneft, for the engineering and material supply of a new Terrace Wall steam reformer heater and air preheating system for the Ufa refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. The steam reformer will be part of the 420 tonnes per day hydrogen production unit, based on FW’s hydrogen technology and process design package. Read more

Cardiff-based Eco2 plans to develop two Euro100m, 40MW biomass - mainly wheat straw - power plants in Romania - in Slobozia and Rosiorii de Vede. Each plant will have a capacity of 240ktpa of straw and emply around 150 people.

Metso and Petrobras have signed a contract for the supply of spare parts and maintenance services for Metso’s valves, actuators and positioners for 11 refineries in Brazil. The contract, which includes intelligent tools for preventive and predictive maintenance planning, follows a two-year Metso pilot at a Petrobras refinery in São Paulo.

Contracts & Projects April 2011

Contracts & Projects March 2011

Contracts & Projects February 2011

Contracts & Projects January 2011

Contracts & Projects December 2010

Contracts & Projects November 2010

Contracts & Projects October 2010

Contracts & Projects September 2010

Contracts & Projects July/August 2010

Contracts & Projects June 2010

Contracts & Projects May 2010

Contracts & Projects April 2010