Project management

The Ningzia Coal Industry Group has appointed AMEC to project manage the development of a new $1.5 billion coal-to-chemical production complex in China.

The complex, in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, will be the first in the country to make end-product chemicals from coal. The facility will produce 540,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year from locally sourced coal reserves in the Ningxia area, reducing reliance on foreign imports. Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer with a wide variety of applications including food packaging, textiles and automotive components.

The complex will include a coal gasifier plant, a methanol and methanol-to-propylene unit, and a polypropylene unit.

Work on the new facility will begin in February this year and AMEC’s contract runs until its completion in early 2009.

Separately, AMEC has been awarded a three- year service contract with a further two one-year options by natural gas business the BG Group (BG).