Borouge consults Foster Wheeler

International Corporation's Abu Dhabi Branch has been awarded a project management consultancy (PMC) services contract by

(Borouge) for a major expansion of the Borouge petrochemicals facility at

. Borouge is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Copenhagen-based Borealis.

The Foster Wheeler contract value was not disclosed and the project will be included in the company's third-quarter 2005 bookings.

Foster Wheeler will provide project management, project control and engineering services to assist Borouge's management team in scope definition, front-end engineering design (FEED), contracting, scheduling, and environmental impact assessment up to award of EPC contracts with an option for services during the EPC phase for the project.

"The expansion project, known as the Borouge STEP III project, will more than double the capacity of the existing ethane cracking and polyethylene production units, and also marks our entry into the important polypropylene market," commented Adel-Khalifa Albuainain, Vice President - Projects, Borouge.

The existing Borouge facility includes a 600,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) ethane cracker and also produces 580,000 mtpa of polyethylene.

The Borouge STEP III project comprises a new ethylene complex, which includes a 1.4 million mtpa ethane cracker and boilers, a 540,000 mtpa polyethylene unit, two 400,000 mtpa polypropylene units, an olefins conversion unit and associated offsites and utilities.

The polyethylene and polypropylene plants will both use Borealis' proprietary Borstar technology. Project completion is expected in 2010.

Separately, Foster Wheeler also announced today that its UK subsidiary Foster Wheeler Energy has been awarded a contract by OJSC Oil Company Alliance (Alliance) to prepare a basic design package for a hydrogen production facility at its Khabarovsk refinery in Russia.

The new plant will produce 27 million standard cubic feet per day (SCFD) of hydrogen, with a minimum hydrogen purity of 99.9% by volume.

The new unit will use mixed feedstocks, including hydrogen-rich gas, liquefied petroleum gases and naphtha from other units within the Khabarovsk refinery.

The unit will supply hydrogen to a number of facilities within the refinery for the production of various fuels and will also export medium pressure steam to the refinery steam system.

The hydrogen production unit includes Foster Wheeler’s TERRACE-WALL steam methane reformer, pre-reformer, high temperature shift reactor, pressure swing adsorption unit and integral steam raising facilities.

The basic engineering package will be completed in July 2005.