Contracts & Projects Tracker: October 2011

1 Nov 2011

Metso has signed a roll service agreement with Holmen Paper for their Hallsta Paper Mill in Sweden. Under the three-year deal, Metso will be responsible for all mechanical roll services at the Hallsta Paper Mill. Roll grinding and part of mechanical roll maintenance will be carried out at Metso’s workshops in Borlänge and Karlstad, Sweden. A Metso maintenance engineer will be based at the Hallsta mill to serve as a link between Metso and the mill. Metso’s workforce will also include two maintenance technicians.

ANDRA, the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency, is using Virtalis’ GeoVisionary software for the high-resolution 2D and 3D visualisation of spatial data. It will be a central tool within ANDRA’s research prior to the construction of CIGEO, its planned facility for the storage of high-level and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste in 2017.

The Karlsborg mill in Sweden is installing a Metso Kappa Q to replace two old kappa analyzers in its bleached softwood kraft fiberline. With five sample points, pulp lignin content and brightness as well as fibre properties and shive content measurements, the Metso analyzer uses patented sweep technology to measure kappa and brightness with a two-point calibration method. Billerud Karlsborg produces 130ktpa of sack and kraft paper as well as 170ktpa of market pulp. The mill comprises a pulp line, a paper machine, a coating machine and a drying machine for market pulp.

Honeywell has signed a deal with Virthualis srl to develop a 3-D simulation technology to improve operator training and plant safety. Virthualis’ MindSafe 3-D visualisation technology - including modules for safety management, accident analysis and risk assessment - will be linked to Honeywell’s existing UniSim simulation tool, providing a virtual environment that can be used to design, analyse, and verify plant operations, as well as to prepare operations teams for safe, reliable and efficient operations.

Aker Solutions is to conduct the basic engineering for the development of Total’s Hild field in the Norwegian North Sea. The NOK215m contract covers engineering for several building blocks, including topside, jacket, an FSO, turret and mooring, SURF and transportation and installation. The work will be completed in the summer of 2012. Hild licence owners include the operator Total E&P Norge AS (which owns 49%), Statoil (21%) and Petoro (30%).

DavyMarkham has won a contract to supply base metals miner Hudbay Minerals Inc. with three hoists for Lalor Mine Project in Canada. In July the company won a £10m contract to supply drum hoists to gold producer, Goldcorp Eléonore Project, in Québec. Production began on the hoists in March at DavyMarkham’s Darnall base and this week, after a four-week journey, arrived in Manitoba, Canada, a region which is a significant producer of gold.

LyondellBasell’s sales offering for the 105k bpd refinery in Berre, France has resulted in no offer to buy the refinery. As a result, operator Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre (CPB) plans to cease refinery operations, with the loss of about 370 jobs. The continuation of the petrochemical operations at Berre would preserve about 900 jobs at the Berre site, Lyondell added. The Berre site includes a steam cracker and world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants owned and operated by another LyondellBasell subsidiary. The potential closure would not affect depot operations or the petrochemical plants and third-party facilities at Berre

Fluor Corp. has recently completed a new 580MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle generating station for Dominion Virginia Power in Buckingham County, Virginia. Fluor was responsible for the EPC services for the new Bear Garden Generating Station. The Bear Garden Generating Station is designed to run primarily on natural gas with ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel as a backup. Reports show that the facility is operating efficiently–producing power at about 1.3% higher output while using 1.6% less fuel than initially planned.

Hima-Sella has commenced work on the upgrade of emergency shutdown (ESD) systems for Lucite International at its Cassel Works site in Teesside. The upgrade applies to MM7 - one of the site’s two methacrylate-based monomer plastics processing plants - and will see the gradual replacement of several dozen legacy ESD systems with a solution implemented using eight HIMA HIQuad H51q programmable electronic systems. The new ESD functions will, in the long-term, interface with the site’s DCS system via Ethernet.

Eni has restarted production in 15 Libyan wells in Abu-Attifel, 300km south of Benghazi. At present, the production level is approximately 31.900 bopd. In the coming days, other wells will be re-activated in order to reach the required volumes to fill the pipeline connecting the field to the Zuetina terminal. Operations are being conducted by Mellitah Oil & Gas, a JV between Eni and NOC.

The global pulp & paper industry is continuing to provide major project opportunities for control and automation systems suppliers – as highlighted by recent awards to Honeywell and Metso in South America and China, respectively. More on Process Engineering)

Jacobs Engineering SA (JESA) — a JV between Jacobs Engineering and OCP SA — is to provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for two new di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) production plants, to be constructed in Jorf Lasfar, Morocco. JESA’s scope of work includes management, procurement and administration of the design and construction of four new plants. OCP is constructing four identical DAP and MAP plants to be commissioned in six month intervals between July 2013 and July 2015.

Anti-vibration mounts from Trelleborg Industrial AVS have been chosen by Saito Separators of Japan for installations that require an exceptional level of isolation and a low noise signature. The mounts are used on Saito’s SKD250S screw decanter, which is designed for liquid/solid separation and heavy slurries. Typical applications include the separation of soy milk and refuse, dehydration and clarification of wheat starch, separation and dehydration of pigments and dehydration of PVC. Noise and vibration from the 720kg machine are kept to a minimum by four RAEM350M12 mounts.

Magnox Ltd has awarded a JV of AMEC, Babcock, Costain and Jacobs Engineering has won a contract worth up to £67m over four years, by at the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in north Wales, UK. The work, awarded to the ACTUS JV as part of an intermediate level waste (ILW) framework contract, involves decommissioning across three waste streams; solid wastes, wet wastes and FEDER (fuel element debris enhanced retrievals). The approach is said to offer a new model for multi-partnership working within the nuclear sector.

ABB is to provide power-supply infrastructure, systems and equipment for two new FPSO units operated by Petrobras. The units will process crude oil and natural gas, operating in the oil-rich Campos basin, offshore from Rio de Janeiro and are due to start operation in mid-2012 with a collective capacity of 360k barrels of oil and 12m cubic square metres of gas per day. The scope of supply for each unit includes a 544-tonne electrical room to house the complete 100MW power system, engineering and installation services.

A major Italian snack food company is achieving annual savings of Euro192,600 on production and maintenance costs, since adopting an NSK asset improvement programme to overcome a persistent problem of failure of fixed tail drum conveyor bearings operating in a damp environment. The company operates six production lines, and across all of these was experiencing the same problem: bearing life of just six months due to the adverse environment.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services at utility company Marafiq’s new integrated power and water facility in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Jacobs did not disclose the value of the contract, but noted that the overall project has a value of over $1bn. Jacobs’ scope of work for the project includes project management, quality assurance, safety assurance, permitting support, engineering review, construction oversight and start-up and commissioning oversight. Marafiq’s core business is the development, operation and maintenance of power and water treatment systems to provide utility services for the Saudi industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu.

ABB has signed a five-year enterprise framework agreement (EFA) with Shell to supply low- and medium-voltage motors and related services. The global agreement covers the sales, distribution, and support of electrical motors for electrical rotating equipment. ABB said its portfolio of high-efficiency motors that meet either NEMA or IEC standards and related motor services and frequency converters, helped secure the contract.

Schaeffler Group’s H1/11 sales rose 18% to around Euro5.4bn, helped by a 21% hike in its European region excluding Germany, Asia 18% and Germany 17%. The group’s automotive division exceeded high H1/10 sales by 16% to Euro3.6bn. Its Industrial division sales climbed 25% to Euro1.7bn helped mainly by the production machinery, power transmission and aftermarket sectors. Employee numbers increased 5% to over 70,000. The group was upbeat about its H2/11 prospects, but noted concerns including rising raw material costs, in particular for steel, as well as higher personnel costs.

Gazprom, BASF, EDF, and Eni have agreed the entry of Wintershall and EDF in the South Stream project with a participation of 15% each. Gazprom and Eni will participate in the project with a participation of 50% and 20% respectively. Gazprom and Eni have also signed an agreement reaffirming the agreements signed on 16 Feb 2011, which laid the path for the future handover to Gazprom of 50% of Eni’s stake (33,3%) in the consortium developing the Elephant oilfield in Libya, around 800km from Tripoli. Gazprom and Severenergia (Development Yamal 51%, jointly owned by Novatek and Gazpromneft, Eni 30% and Enel with 19%) have finally signed a contract, through which Gazprom has agreed to purchase the gas produced by Severenergia.

Eco-Oil, a UK industrial waste oil recycler, has installed a thermal fluid heating system from Babcock Wanson in its Ipswich oil recycling plant. An automatic coil-type, multi-pass thermal fluid heater complete with integrated burner, control system and safety devices, the TPC1000B has been installed in Eco-Oil’s process area and is being used to generate heat for the production of Processed Fuel Oil. Eco-Oil claims to be one of the largest suppliers of this type of fuel product in the UK.

Alberta, Canada-based Grizzly Oil Sands last month awarded a $4m-plus order to Rockwell Automation for its PlantPAx process automation system to help produce more than 5,000bpd of oil at the first phase of its Algar Lake Project: supporting steam-assisted gravity drainage — an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen. A shadow control room, built on a virtualised computing environment, will be developed at Grizzly’s Calgary HQ to monitor and control its current and future oil sites across northern Alberta.The project also includes project management and engineering services, low and medium voltage motor control centers, and a PowerFlex 7000 medium voltage variable frequency drive.

Jacobs Engineering has been awarded the second phase of the Ras Tanura Refinery Clean Fuels and Aromatics project.This award is under the Saudi Aramco General Engineering and project management services (GES+) contract. The scope of services for the Clean Fuels and Aromatics Project includes FEED services for both inside battery limits (ISBL) and outside battery limits (OSBL). In addition, the project includes modifications to the refinery to comply with expected future environmental regulations.

Sasol Chemical Industries Ltd has awarded Foster Wheeler a contract to provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services for the Sasolburg Utilities Expansion Project at Sasolburg, South Africa. Due to be completed in Q212, the project involves the expansion of the capacity of the utility systems at the Sasol complex at Sasolburg to support a program of expansion projects. This EPCm award follows FW’s completion of the FEED phase for this project.

Alcoa is expanding its Davenport, Iowa rolled products plant to meet rising demand from automotive OEMs, who are switching from steel to aluminum to increase the fuel efficiency and performance of cars.The $300m expansion at an aerospace materials facility – with a 220-inch wide mill, the largest in the world - will create 150 jobs in Davenport once completed, bringing total employment there to more than 2,300. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

Fluor Corp.has signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) – as EPC partner of GEH – to pursue nuclear new-build projects in Poland. Fluor has been in Poland since 1995 with nearly 300 engineering and technical professionals together with GE’s more than 10,000 local employees. Poland’s power utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE) is to formally open the project bidding process in Warsaw on 22 Sept. PGE is expected to complete its vendor selection in mid-2013 and has targeted 2020 as the commercial date of operation for its first nuclear power plant.

BP is paying $71m to acquire the remaining 50% share in Brazil biofuels company Tropical BioEnergia SA from its current JV partners Maeda SA Agroindustrial (25%) and LDC-SEV Bioenergia SA (25%). As sole owner and operator of its producing ethanol mill in Edéia, Goiás state. BP intends to double the size of the operations at Tropical BioEnergia to a capacity of 5m tonnes of crushed cane, or 450m litres of ethanol equivalent, per year and also to expand operations in the region. BP has two other ethanol producing mills in Brazil.

Dow Chemical Co. is using aspenONE Engineering software, from Aspen Technology, to support its capital-cost decision making for large-scale petrochemicals projects suite.Previously, estimators were unable to model large, multi-plant facilities as one integrated project. The software, said Aspen, enables Dow to save time by increasing scope visibility across projects, allowing engineering & construction firms and owner operators to achieve efficiency improvements of 50 to 75% in their estimating activities.

Metso is to supply a biomass boiler for the We Energies/Domtar Biomass Energy Project owned by We Energies. The 50MW biomass boiler is part of a major investment to build a new biomass-fueled cogeneration power plant which will be located at the Domtar Mill in Rothschild, Wisconsin. It will utilise circulating fluidized bed technology and will use waste wood from logging and mill activity, tree trimming and sawdust as the main fuel. The plant will provide renewable electricity and process steam to the mill. Commercial operation is due in 2013.

Foster Wheeler, through a collaborative agreement with Honeywell’s UOP, was recently awarded a contract by Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Co. (Orpic). UOP/FW will provide a basic engineering design package for a solvent deasphalting (SDA) unit at the Sohar refinery in Oman. The unit is a major part of a project to increase the refinery’s production of petroleum products such as LPG, naphtha, Jet A-1 fuel, gasoline, diesel and propylene. The SDA unit is to process 2,500ktpa of vacuum residue of Oman export blend crude to produce de-asphalted oil and asphalt for road bitumen production. The SDA unit is expected to come on stream in 2015.

Total has announced a major gas discovery in the Caspian Sea in the Absheron block offshore Azerbaijan.The Absheron X-2 well has encountered more than 500 feet of cumulated net gas pays within high quality sands on the northern flank of a major 270 square kilometres structure. Reservoirs are expected to extend over the entire northern part of the structure. The well’s first results confirm a potential of several trillion cubic feet of gas and associated condensates.

Technip Umbilical Systems (DUCO Ltd) has selected wireless strain measurement technology, from Mantracourt, for the testing of critical offshore systems. DUCO umbilicals form the link between a subsea production arrangement and a remote facility providing control, power, and communications and chemical services. Using the wireless technology, DUCO will perform steel tube fatigue tests and remotely monitor strain throughout. This testing is essential as umbilical structures can undergo dynamic stresses throughout service life.

INEOS Technologies has licensed its Innovene PP process for the manufacture of polypropylene homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers to the Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co. Ltd in Ningxia, China. The 300 KTA Innovene PP plant will produce a wide range of polypropylene products for the Chinese market. (More on Process Engineering

Total has announced a hydrocarbon discovery in French Guiana’s deep offshore Guyane Maritime license. Total has a 25% equity interest in the Tullow-operated acreage. Located around 150km northeast of Cayenne, the GM-ES-1 well lies in just over 2,000 metres of water and has so far been drilled to a depth of 5,711 metres below sea level. Measurement while drilling revealed the existence of liquid hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs.

Analytical Technology Inc. has recently won the framework agreement to supply and install triple validated chlorine monitoring systems to Thames Water. The systems will replace the utility’s’ existing instrumentation, improving process control and enabling operational and maintenance savings. Thames Water currently has the UK’s largest installed base of chlorine monitors and is investing in the new technology during AMP 5. Due to the size of the order, the new framework deal was jointly awarded to both Analytical Technology and Siemens.

Wood Group Kenny has been appointed by BP to provide engineering design and project management services for the subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline (SURF) infrastructure for BPs Quad 204 redevelopment project West of Shetland. Wood Group Kenny is responsible for the design of $1.2bn worth of subsea, pipeline and riser infrastructure for the project. The dedicated engineering team is already 50 strong and will expand to 75 in the near future.

Vattenfall AB has signed a global deal with Achilles to provide a single supplier pre-qualification system for all its business units and geographies. Achilles will provide a view of the supply base of over 15,000 suppliers, across all Vattenfall’s business units including hydro, nuclear, distribution, services, heat etc, and for the following regions in which they operate Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and the UK. Achilles has provided pre-qualification services to Vattenfall since 2002 on an individual country basis to address regional requirements.

Suncor Energy has awarded Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. a contract to provide support for a programme of sustaining works as part of its Firebag Stage Three in-situ oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Canada. Jacobs has completed the detailed design phase of Firebag Stage Three; providing support for sustaining projects is the next step in Jacobs’ involvement with the Firebag program, as Jacobs is currently involved in managing the ongoing pre-sustaining projects.

Eni and the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) have agreed “to create the conditions for a rapid and complete recovery of Eni’s activities in Libya” and restart operations on the Greenstream pipeline, bringing gas from the Libyan coast to Italy. the Italian group has announced. Eni is providing a first supply of refined petroleum products to NTC and will also provide technical assistance to assess the state of facilities and energy infrastructure in Libya and to define the type and extent of operations required to safely restart activities.

Alfa Laval has an SEK90m order from Japanese engineering company JGC Corp. to supply heat exchangers for the Barzan Onshore gas plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. The units will be used to recover energy in the gas cleaning process and for process cooling of the overall plant. The Barzan Project, managed by RasGas – a Qatar Petroleum/ExxonMobil JV – is to produce 1.4bn cubic feet/day from 2014. The gas comes from the Barzan North Field – the world’s largest reservoir of non-associated natural gas.

Contracts & Projects September 2011

Contracts & Projects August 2011

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