AMEC awarded $16m

has been appointed by PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company (GXPC) as its project management contractor for the development of a $1.6bn grassroots refinery in Qinzhou, southwestern China. AMEX says its contract is worth $16m.

AMEC will provide project management services within GXPC’s Integrated Project Management Team and includes development of the project management procedures, engineering, project controls, health, safety and environmental management, quality management and several other operational and commercial functions.

When completed in 2008, the new refinery will process up to 10 million tonnes a year of Sudanese oil to produce petroleum and petrochemical products for the local market. The plant will contain Inside Battery Limit process units for crude distillation, fluidised catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, diesel hydrotreating, gasoline etherification and polypropylene production. Supporting facilities in the Outside Battery Limit area will include power and steam generation plants, general utilities, tank farm, administration buildings and a port with a jetty.

The contract is the latest in series of successes for AMEC in China. It follows major work on the multi-billion dollar SECCO ethylene complex near Shanghai, the PetroChina Dushanzi ethylene project and the Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group coal-based polypropylene project.