Foster Wheeler AG announced that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by PDVSA Petróleo S.A. for the engineering, procurement services and construction management (EPCm) for the El Palito Refinery Expansion Project in Venezuela.
Foster Wheeler will execute the project in consortium with Toyo Engineering Corporation from Japan and Y & V Ingeniería y Construcción from Venezuela.
Foster Wheeler and its consortium partners have previously completed the front-end engineering design for the project. The value of the EPCm award was not disclosed and will be included in Foster Wheeler’s third-quarter 2012 bookings.
The major expansion of the refinery will include a number of new units, including a 140,000BPSD crude/vacuum distillation unit, a 24,500BPSD naphtha hydrotreating/continuous catalytic reformer complex, a 58,00BPSD vacuum gasoil hydrotreater, a 45,000BPSD diesel hydrotreater, an 80 million standard cu/ft per day hydrogen production unit, a 250tns per day sulfur recovery/tail gas treatment unit, a new flare system, amine regeneration and sour water stripper facilities, and relevant utilities, interconnecting and off-sites, including marine facilities and a new product storage tank farm.
The expansion is intended to double the refinery’s capacity to 280,000BPSD, processing heavy and extra-heavy crudes from the Orinoco Belt, and increasing production of clean fuels. The project is expected to be completed during 2016.