Contracts & Projects: August 2011

Dow Chemical Co. and Saudi Aramco are jointly to build and operate an integrated chemicals complex in Saudi Arabia, the companies have announced. The project will be run via a JV, called Sadara Chemical Co., and follows feasibility and FEED work, which began in 2007. (Read more on Process Engineering)

Vivergo has engaged four new contractor companies to restart piping and related engineering work at the BP/British Sugar/DuPont JV’s biofuels plant in Hull, UK. The work had stalled since Redhall’s dismissal for falling behind schedule on the project. The plant is now due to come on stream in early 2012, about a year later than expected. A Vivergo spokeswoman did not identify the new contractors.

EDF Energy is to deploy Emerson’s AMS Suite predictive maintenance software to help optimise maintenance at its new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station at West Burton, UK. With three 430MW CCGT units, the new 1300MW plant will stand next to EDF Energy’s existing 2000MW coal-fired power station. Commercial startup is due later this year. (More on Process Engineering)

Eni has signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Sinopec Group covering the study of possible business opportunities in China and internationally. Eni aims to strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific in terms of both upstream opportunities and market position. Eni China BV is joint operator in the CACT Consortium, with CNOOC and Chevron in the Chinese South Sea, where Eni China’s equity daily production is abput 10,000 boed. Eni China is also active in exploration offshore south China.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is to provide professional services to EDF’s NNB Generation Co. Ltd (NNB Gen Co.) – the prospective licensee for future nuclear plants to be owned and operated within the United Kingdom by EDF Energy. The two-year agreement covers technical support to the design authority department that owns and protects the integrity of the design and safety case of the UK EPR(TM), a pressurised water reactor, on behalf of NNB GenCo.

Total Lindsey Oil Refinery (LOR) has engaged ABB’s fast-track modular packaged substation service to provide a new 11 kV substation for an ongoing programme to upgrade the power distribution infrastructure at the site in North Lincolnshire. ABB will design, manufacture, deliver and commission a complete containerised substation, based on its compact UniGear ZS1 medium voltage (MV) switchgear.

Surgutneftegas is to use actuator control systems from ASCO Numatics to control large actuators at its Kirishi refinery near St Petersburg. The facility will employ 88 half-inch NPT ACS units to control valves used to regulate the flow of oil. (Read more on Process Engineering)

Aker Solutions has signed a $15m contract with Endeavour Energy UK to supply subsea umbilicals and associated equipment for the East Rochelle development project located offshore UK. Aker will supply one 30km infield control umbilical and one 650-metre riser umbilical that will provide all system functions for the Rochelle field. Subsea umbilicals are deployed on the seabed to supply necessary control and chemicals to subsea oil and gas wells, subsea manifolds and any subsea system requiring a remote control. Endeavour is the operator of East Rochelle. The umbilicals will be manufactured at Aker Solutions’ facility in Moss, Norway. Final deliveries will be made in 2012.

BASF is to build a plant for customer specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain. Construction of the new polymer additives facility will start in September 2011. One of the world’s largest CSB plants, at 16ktpa, the unit will be operational by the end of 2012. BASF’s investment is linked to its acquisition of Ciba in 2009 and will enhance a production network of antioxidants in Asia, Europe and the Americas. BASF also has a manufacturing agreement for CSBs with Astra Polymer in Saudi Arabia.

Perpetuum has recently announced that National Instruments’ NI WSN-3226 wireless measurement node can be powered by its vibration energy harvester technology. “As a leader in the wireless sensing and industrial automation market, NI is excited to offer Perpetuum’s vibration energy harvesters as a solution to battery replacement for our WSN nodes,” said Nick Butler, product marketing manager for wireless sensor networks at NI. “This solution can significantly reduce maintenance logistics and costs for customers.”

Emerson is installing a wireless continuous emission monitoring (CEM) system at Singaport Cleanseas Pte Ltd – a marine pollution reception facility for the collection and disposal of hazardous waste, located in Pulau Sebarok, Singapore. Singaport Cleanseas needs to meet all environmental standards for emission and effluent discharge both today, and as its facilities expand in the future. To meet these specific requirements, Emerson is providing a standard Rosemount Analytical CEM system that includes an implementation of three Model 1056 wireless-enabled analysers featuring its Smart Wireless THUM adapter. The configuration allows the non-wireless analysers to function as a wireless system.

Hyundai Engineering and Construction has given Foster Wheeler the go ahead to design and supply four 550 MWe supercritical circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) steam generators for the Samcheok Green Power project for Korea Southern Power Co. Ltd (KOSPO), the owner and developer of the project. Commercial operation of the new steam generators is scheduled to begin in Q2/15. The vertical-tube, once-through supercritical CFB steam generators will be designed to burn coal mixed with biomass while meeting applicable environmental regulatory requirements.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded a contract by URENCO ChemPlants Ltd, for project management, design engineering, procurement, construction management and inactive commissioning associated with a new tails management facility at URENCO’s Capenhurst site in north-west England – a major UK nuclear/chemical development. As part of the nuclear fuel cycle, tails is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process performed at URENCO’s facilities. The plant, including all ancillary systems and support facilities, is expected to deconvert the material into a passive form which will be stored on the Capenhurst site. Completion of construction and pre-commissioning is due by early 2015, prior to URENCO’s commissioning and operation of the facility.

CB&I has been awarded a $300m-plus contract for a new natural gas processing plant in the northeastern US. CB&I’s work scope includes the engineering, procurement and construction of a 200 million cubic foot per day natural gas processing plant, including full fractionation and treatment capabilities, storage tanks and loading systems. In addition, CB&I’s Lummus Technology business sector is providing its proprietary NGL-MaxSM recovery technology. The contract is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Wood Group has netted a “multi-million dollar”, three-year contract with Chevron USA Inc. to commission the Big Foot extended tension leg platform (E-TLP) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Work will be performed by DSI, Wood Group PSNs commissioning services business. DSIs scope of work covers the full commissioning process, from development of procedures, through inspection and testing of every operational component at the South Texas fabrication yards and offshore, to the final hand-over of systems to Chevron.

Metso is to supply Vantaan Energia Ltd with a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The boiler will be delivered by the Metso-Wärtsilä JV MW Power and it will be installed into a new waste-to-energy plant in Långmossebergen in Vantaa, Finland. Vantaan Energia plans to have the new plant completed in 2014 according to a preliminary schedule. The value of the order is nearly Euro15m.

Burel Industries has selected Unipol polypropylene process technology from Dow Chemical Co. for its new 250ktpa polypropylene facility at Gebang Industrial Park in Kuantan, Malaysia. The plant will be designed to produce homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers and is set to come on line in 2013/14.

Eni has started oil production from the Appaloosa field in the US Gulf of Mexico, 60 miles off the Louisiana coast, in 2500ft of water. Production began 21 June through a subsea development and a 20-mile flow line tied back to the Eni-operated Corral Platform. The well is flowing at a rate of about 7k bpd oil equivalent. This is the second Eni field producing on the Corral Platform, which is now processing 46.6k gross bpd oil equivalent.

Saudi Aramco has awarded Foster Wheeler SOFCON a contract for the front-end engineering design (FEED) and project management services for the Clean Transportation Fuels Project at the Riyadh Refinery, Saudi Arabia. The project is to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline and diesel produced by the refinery to 10ppm, and to reduce the level of benzene in gasoline. (More on Process Engineering)

AMEC has been awarded its first major contract by URENCO UK Ltd to provide a full range of nuclear services. The three-year contract, the value of which has not been announced, will see AMEC call upon its full range of skills and expertise to provide services against specific tasks nominated by URENCO. The contract will be operated from a number of locations in the UK.

Foster Wheeler has won a process design and front-end engineering design (FEED) services contract by PDVSA for the new Batalla Santa Ines Refinery Phase I Hydroskimming section to be built in Barinas, Venezuela. FW’s scope of work includes the preparation of the basic engineering design package, FEED and early procurement assistance for the crude distillation unit, the naphtha hydrotreater, the continuous catalytic reformer and the utilities and offsite facilities. The FEED is to be completed in Q3/11.

Fluor Corp. has been awarded a contract by Klaipedos Nafta AB, Lithuania’s state-owned oil company, to provide engineering and business support services for a new floating LNG import terminal in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in Q2/11.

South African public power utility Eskom has awarded Yokogawa a contract to supply control systems and instrumentation for the outside plant and water treatment plant at its Tutuka Power Station. (More on Process Engineering)

Cartiere del Garda is using a density meter from Emerson to accurately measure the concentration of kaolin and other additives in the coating process at its paper mill on the banks of Lake Garda. The Micro Motion 7845 density and concentration Meter was installed to provide more accurate density measurements under entrained gas conditions. (More on Process Engineering)

Siemens Water Technologies is to provide a water treatment system for Torrent Power Ltd’s 382.5MW UNOSUGEN gas-based combined cycle power plant in Surat, district Gujarat, India. It will supply two ’contrafast concentric’ systems, which will treat water from the Tapi River and produce up to 4m gallons per day of cooling tower make-up water. The system, which is part of a capacity expansion at the power plant, is scheduled to be commissioned in Q3/12.

Rental Solutions & Services (RSS) has been selected by two power generation authorities in Oman to design, build and manage temporary power packages in four different locations in Oman: Ja’laan Bani Bu Ali Grid Station, Al Mulladah Intersection Station, Dibba and Ghundham. The 80MVA temporary power will support the Oman’s power grid during the summer period when demand is high. Most Gulf co-operating countries experience seasonal power shortages during summer months where demand is high.

The worldwide market for medium voltage soft starters was worth around $170m in 2010, with more than 5,000 units shipped during the year, IMS Research estimates. Following a significant contraction during the global downturn, the market gradually recovered in 2010, noted an IMS study, titled 2011 Medium Voltage MCCs & Soft Starters. It estimates that pumping applications account for 60% to 70% of the entire medium voltage soft starters market: so that industries with significant pumping operations, such as oil & natural gas, power generation and water & wastewater are the biggest vertical markets for MV soft starters. (More on Process Engineering)

Aker Solutions is to deliver a deepwater drilling riser system to the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The riser package will be delivered to offshore drilling company Atwood Oceanics’ drill ship. The contract worth around $50m and includes an option for another two units. The 10 000 ft deepwater drilling riser system will be manufactured and delivered out of Aker Solutions’ manufacturing plant in Port Klang, Malaysia. Delivery of the first drilling riser system is scheduled for Q2/13. Aker Solutions currently has 15 drilling riser systems in operation, of which six complete drilling riser systems have been delivered this year.

BP Amoco Chemical Co. has awarded KBR a three-year contract by to execute maintenance and small capital construction projects at BP’s Decatur, Alabama, and Cooper River, South Carolina, plants. The original contract for these sites has been in place since 1998.

Alabama Power has started capturing CO2 at its coal-fired Plant Barry power plant. The carbon capture and storage facility at the plant is claimed to be the world’s largest for a coal-fired generating power plant. It will capture around 150ktpa of CO2, for storage in a deep saline geologic formation. The unit employs Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ KM-CDR amine solvent technology, which captures CO2 from the plant’s flue gas. The CO2 be supplied to the SECARB for transport by pipeline and injection 9,500ft underground at a site within the Citronelle Oil Field.

Wood Group has reported a strong engineering order book, at H1/11, with rising upstream volumes – despite some project deferrals – and strong subsea, pipeline markets. Downstream, process and engineering industrial markets remain soft, though. Wood Group PSN noted “reasonable” North Sea activity, including a five-year TAQA Bratani extension. The group noted “strong” US demand for services in shale regions, and “steady” demand in the Gulf of Mexico. Some Australia contracts and one in Oman are being delayed. In power, oil & gas maintenance work is being hit by test cell downtime and overhaul delays. The group has suspended engineering work on a $25m Libyan offshore contract.

Haldor Topsøe is supplying a wet gas sulphuric acid (WSA) plant at a new Río Seco industrial operation in Peru. The multi-flexible unit will both clean the H2S off-gases from an MnSO4 leaching process and burn elemental sulphur to make industrial grade sulphuric acid. The WSA plant can operate on 100 % H2S gas, 100 % elemental sulphur and any combination hereof. Topsøe’s scope covers all the basic and detailed engineering and equipment and materials required inside battery limits, license, catalysts and supervision during construction, commissioning and start-up in 2012.

Amec has won two definitive feasibility studies on uranium projects in Namibia. Amec Minproc is now working for Paladin Energy on a study to expand its flagship uranium operation, Langer Heinrich to 10m pounds/yr. The design/costing study is due by Q4/11. AMEC Minproc will also do feasibility for Bannerman Resources’ Etango project – one of the world’s largest undeveloped uranium deposits, at 212m pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8). The aim is to develop a 5-7m pounds/yr U3O8 open-pit mining operation.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. – a JV between Jacobs, AMEC and Costain, – is one of six organisations awarded a framework contract by Magnox Ltd to provide waste retrieval, processing and filling services at eight nuclear power station sites across the UK. The JV is one of only three to have secured a contract for both solid and wet wastes and can now bid for specific projects under the Magnox ILW management programme. Its scope includes design, construction, commissioning and operation of facilities that retrieve and package ILW, and de-contaminating facilities.

SSE and Statoil UK have opened a new gas storage facility at Aldbrough, East Yorkshire. It comprises nine underground caverns, formed by using seawater to leach out salt deposits around 2km under ground. Six of the nine caverns at Aldbrough are already storing gas, with the others due in operation by Q3/12. It will ultimately have the capacity to store around 330mcm, deliver gas at 40mcm/day, and have 30mcm/day injected: providing around 7% of the total UK gas storage capacity and around 25% of gas deliverability. (More on Process Engineering

Engineering consultancy RVA Group is currently supporting Enemalta Corp. – the Maltese state-owned energy utility – in a review and assessment of two existing power stations - Marsa (MPS) and Delimara. Starting with the preparation of outline plant decommissioning, this initial phase of work comprises of a monitoring programme and a waste management plan is to be devised as a result. As MPS is expected to be phased out by 2015, RVA is to develop a full decommissioning plan for this plant.

Fluor Corp. is to provide EPC management services for Woodside Energy Ltd’s operating assets: for three years, with the option of three one-year extensions available. Fluor is to perfrom capital projects for Woodside’s Production Projects Group. The engineering services will be performed in Fluor’s Perth, Australia office.

Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) has won the electrical infrastructure contract for the extension of Scottish Power Renewables’ Whitelee Wind Farm, south of Glasgow, Whitelee is already the largest onshore wind farm in Europe with the existing 140 turbines having the capacity to generate 322MW. The extension will add another 75 turbines raising the generating capacity to 539MW, and see 69 Alstom ECO 100 turbines added, each with a 3MW capacity and six ECO 74 turbines with 1.67MW capacity each.

Dow Chemical Co. has awarded Fluor Corp. a contract to provide basic engineering and design services on its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) expansion project in Freeport, Texas. The basic engineering will be executed in Fluor’s Houston, Texas office with support from its office in Manila, Philippines. Once construction is complete, the facility will produce polymer-grade propylene.

Wood Group GTS has been awarded a $11m, multi-year contract by Empresa de Generacion Electrica de Arequipa SA to supply parts for the two GE MS6001B gas turbines at the 71MW power plant “Central Termica Pisco”, Pisco Province, Peru. The scope covers Frame 6B combustion and hot gas path capital parts. The contract will also provide for operational and critical spares along with repair of capital parts.

Contracts & Projects July 2011

Contracts & Projects June 2011

Contracts & Projects May 2011

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

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