Control System World

AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has been awarded a $528 million (£330 million) Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) for a new oil refinery at Al Zour, Kuwait.

When completed in 2018 the multi-billion dollar refinery is expected to be the largest in the Middle East and will increase Kuwait’s refinery capacity by 615,000 barrels per day. It will be a key part of Kuwait’s long term strategy, producing cleaner fuels to meet its electrical power generation growth and demand while adhering to the latest environmental standards.

The contract is expected to create around 300 new jobs for AMEC.  Dr Hisham Mahmoud, AMEC’s Group President, Growth Regions, said: “This contract award supports our Vision 2015 strategy, which includes growing our presence in the Middle East’s oil and gas upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. It is also an example of our ability to leverage our global design, engineering and project management expertise to deliver complex projects for our customers anywhere in the world.”

Alan McLean, AMEC’s Vice President of its Middle East, Africa and CIS business, added: “This project is significant for AMEC in the Middle East and recognises the experience and knowledge we have gained by successfully delivering PMC contracts in the region. The project is also important for KNPC in enabling it to meet the demands of its customers.”

Technip has been awarded by Total E&P Angola an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPIC) contract for the second phase of the Girassol Resources Initiatives (GirRI) development project. The field is located 210 kilometers offshore Angola, at a water depth of 1,300 meters.

The contract covers the project management, engineering, fabrication and installation of:

• 21 kilometers of umbilicals(1),
• 13 kilometers of interconnecting power cable between the Dalia and the Girassol floating production storage and offloading units (FPSO), both delivered by Technip,
• the recovery and disposal of four rigid spools(2),
• the installation of eight new flexible spools.

Technip Angola Engenharia(3) will share responsibility for the overall project management and engineering of this subsea project with Technip UK. Various steel structures will be fabricated by the Angoflex(3) spoolbase in Dande, Angola. The flexible spools will be fabricated at Technip’s manufacturing plant in Le Trait, France. The offshore campaign is scheduled for the end of 2014, with the main installation vessel being from Technip's fleet.

Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that the company was awarded a new project by Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden). Fluor’s scope of work is to provide project management consulting (PMC) services related to the development of the Umm Wu’al greenfield phosphate project and related facilities in northern Saudi Arabia. Fluor will book approximately $200 million related to the contract in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The project kick-off was commemorated at a contract signing ceremony held on December 1 in Saudi Arabia where Ma’aden representatives, local dignitaries and Fluor senior executives were present including Chairman & Chief Executive Officer David Seaton.

Fluor’s scopes of work on the Umm Wu’al project will include the following areas:

• provide overall PMC services for the development of the Umm Wu’al phosphate project;
• supervise and manage the feasibility study including the development of basic design packages which is undertaken by FEED contractor;
• manage the development, strategy, and tendering of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages; and
• manage and supervise all EPC contractors during EPC stage until project turnover closeout.

“The Middle East has always been an important market for Fluor and we are delighted that our relationship with Ma'aden is expanding with the award of this significant project. We are honored that our client in Saudi Arabia recognizes the value that Fluor brings to a complex project like Umm Wu’al,” said Rick Koumouris, Fluor’s business line lead for Mining & Metals. "We will look forward to working closely with our client and bringing to bear all of the tools in our arsenal - especially our world class safety culture and rigorous processes and procedures - to secure the success of this project.”

Fluor will execute the Umm Wu’al project from its offices in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia with support from other global Fluor locations. The company has set a goal of at least 20 percent local Saudi labor content on the project beginning in year one. Once completed, the Umm Wu’al project will have an annual capacity of 100,000 metric tons per annum (MTPA) of food grade purified phosphoric acid; 90,000 MTPA of industrial grade sodium tripoly phosphate; 250,000 MTPA of animal feed grade dicalum phosphate/monocalcium phosphate; along with 280,000,000 MTPA of phosphate and compound fertilizers. The project will likely leverage much of the existing infrastructure including port, rail and other developments put in place by the Saudi Arabia Government.

KBR (NYSE: KBR) has announced today it has been awarded a contract amendment by Saudi Aramco to execute front-end engineering and design (FEED) for its Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project at the Jazan Refinery and Terminal near Jazan Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Once complete, it will be the largest gasifier-based power facility built in the world.

The IGCC complex will convert vacuum residue to electricity and utilities for the refinery and export approximately 2.4 gigawatts of electricity to the Jazan Economic City and the surrounding region. This award follows KBR’s recent completion of FEED for the Jazan Refinery and Terminal, a 400,000 bpd facility located near Jazan Economic City.

“KBR is pleased to support Saudi Aramco in the development of Jazan Refinery and Terminal Project and what is to become the largest IGCC complex in the world,” said David Zelinski, President, Downstream. “This contract represents our continued commitment to providing Saudi Aramco quality FEED services and is a testament of the quality of work we have already conducted in the region.”