Project management expertise in demand

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 29, 2004

Foster Wheeler Energy has been awarded a project management services contract by Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) for its Acetyls Complex to be built at Jubail Industrial City.

Foster Wheeler Energy has been awarded a project management services contract by Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) for its Acetyls Complex to be built at Jubail Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The terms of the award were not disclosed.

The project will be included in third-quarter bookings.

"Foster Wheeler is delighted to be awarded this contract by Sipchem, adding to our substantial track record of such projects and demonstrating that Foster Wheeler is the project management services contractor of choice for the industry", said Steve Davies, chairman and chief executive officer of Foster Wheeler Energy.

"We look forward to assisting Sipchem in achieving a safe, environmentally sound, efficient, and reliable plant and in contributing to the further development of Saudi industries".

"The acetyls complex will provide further growth opportunities for Sipchem, representing our vision for developing investments in the petrochemical industry to produce value-added products, serving both Saudi and regional needs", commented Ahmed Al-Ohali, president of Sipchem.

"We selected Foster Wheeler as the company with the best capability and personnel to work with us in the development and management of this important project".

The complex will produce 460kt of acetic acid and 300kt of vinyl acetate monomer per year.

Phase I of the complex, comprising methanol and butanediol plants, is currently under construction.

Foster Wheeler will work as part of an integrated project management team (IPMT) together with Sipchem.

The role of the IPMT is to develop and issue bid packages for the engineering and construction of the acetyls complex and its associated utilities and offsites.

Once the projects are awarded, the IPMT will manage the engineering and construction activities on behalf of Sipchem and its affiliates.

In the early phase of the project, the IPMT will support the project planning and development team of Sipchem to complete the feasibility study, obtain approvals and establish company formations.

Construction of the complex is planned for commencement in 2006 with startup in 2008.