EPC contract for Foster Wheeler

Foster Wheeler subsidiaries have been awarded an EPC contract by Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company for the utilities and offsites of PETRORabigh's refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

Foster Wheeler Energy

and Foster Wheeler Arabia have been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PETRORabigh) for the utilities and offsites of PETRORabigh's world-scale, integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

PETRORabigh is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Limited. The Foster Wheeler contract value was not disclosed and the project will be included in the company's fourth-quarter bookings.

Among other things, Foster Wheeler will undertake detailed design, procurement and management of the construction contractors for the utilities and offsite facilities, including all interconnecting process and utility piping for the complex.

Saudi Aramco's existing refinery and infrastructure at Rabigh will serve as the base platform for this major development. When completed, this will be one of the largest integrated refining and petrochemical projects ever to be built at one time.

A total of 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemical solids and liquids, along with large volumes of gasoline and other refined products, will be produced.

As part of the development, the refinery is being upgraded to produce more transportation fuels.

A new high-olefins fluid catalytic cracker complex is being integrated with a world-scale, ethane-based cracker, producing approximately 1.5 million tonnes per year of ethylene, 900,000 tonnes per year of propylene, and 60,000 barrels per day of gasoline as well as other refined products.

Downstream units will convert all of the olefin production into petrochemical products, such as linear low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide and mono ethylene glycol.