Coker contract for Foster Wheeler

has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by

for a 30,000 barrel per stream day (bpsd) delayed coker, gas plant and coke handling facilities.

The new coker, at Sinclair’s refinery at Tulsa, Oklahoma, will use Foster Wheeler's Selective Yield Delayed Coking (SYDEC) process, allowing the refinery to process heavier crudes while maximising the production of higher value products.

Terms of the award were not disclosed. The project was included in the company's second-quarter 2006 bookings.

‘Sinclair considers Foster Wheeler a leader in delayed coking technology and its execution approach fits with our plan to have the unit operational by 2009,’ said Paul Moote, Sinclair's vice president, Refinery Construction.

Foster Wheeler's SYDEC process is a thermal conversion process used by refiners worldwide to upgrade heavy residue feed and process it into high value transport fuels.

The SYDEC process achieves maximum clean liquid yields and minimum fuel coke yields from high sulphur residues. By installing a SYDEC unit, Foster Wheeler claims a refinery owner is able to process heavier crudes, which sell at a discount to the benchmark light, sweet crudes, thereby allowing the owner to reap the benefit of increased refining margins.