Aker Kvaerner of Norway cooperated with Sinopec Group Company and recently won a contract of US$750 million from Saudi Sabic Company to build a joint polyolefin plant in Saudi Yanbianbu. The two companies will each be divided into 50%. The project includes the design, procurement and construction of a 400,000-ton/year low-density polyethylene plant, a 400,000-ton/year polypropylene plant and a combined finished product packaging plant. AkerKvaerner conducts project management and basic engineering and key equipment procurement. Sinopec conducted regulatory design and construction. The project will be completed by the end of March 2008.
Several major contracts recently awarded by Technip in France are: World-scale cracker from Sabic Company in Saudi Yanbu; Joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Qatar Petrochemical and Total Petrochemical Company Qatofin Corporation’s joint venture contract in Las Rafa Petrochemicals, Qatar; Dow Chemical’s joint venture with Kuwait Petrochemical Industry Corporation’s petrochemical conglomerate contract in Shuba, Kuwait. The new contracts obtained by the German Luqi Company include the large-scale methanol and lubricating oil plants of Malaysia's Petronas Company, the construction of propane dehydrogenation and CO plants for Saudi Arabia, and the construction of MTP plants for China. Frühl recently contracted Saudi Arabian International Petrochemical’s acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer plant construction in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and it will also build an annual production capacity of 460,000 t/y ethylene plant at Si鄄di Krier’s petrochemical company in Egypt. The project is scheduled to be put into operation in 2009.
The United States, Lummus, Lockwood Greene, and CH2M completed a joint restructuring earlier this year. The newly formed group includes chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology businesses. The company’s operating income increased by 26% last year to US$3.8 billion, of which the chemical business accounted for 25%. The value of the largest chemical construction project currently being implemented by the company amounts to 100 million U.S. dollars, and Eastman Chemical Company built a 350,000 tonne/year PET plant in Colombia in the United States. It is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
Linde Engineering GmbH is the world's leading supplier of air separation plants and has a place in the engineering of olefins, synthesis gas and natural gas installations. The projects Linde recently contracted include the construction of a 1 million-ton/year ethylene and 300,000-ton/year propylene unit for the Tasnee Petrochemical Company in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The contract value of this project is 300 million euros. Linde also contracted a 1 million tonne/year ethylene and 500,000 tonne/year propylene unit project of Dushanzi PetroChina and the project contract value was 140 million euros.
In the six months from November 2005 to April 2006, Tecnimont of Italy contracted a contract valued at 1.5 billion euros. From 2005 to 2006, Tecnimont’s engineering order contracts included the Kuwait Aromatics Plant, Qatar Q-ChemII Project, a joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical Company and Aramco in Saudi Arabia, and a Tasnee Petrochemical Company's project in Saudi Arabia. About 80% of the projects recently undertaken by the company are in the Middle East, mainly petrochemical construction projects.
Forster Wheeler focuses on projects in China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The company is involved in the construction of a refinery and petrochemical complex in Lhasa-Bicak Refining and Petrochemical Company in Saudi Arabia. Another project is to participate in the construction of a petrochemical complex in Southeast Asia. In March of this year, Forster Wheeler signed a contract with Petro-Rabigh to build utilities and ancillary facilities for the Petro-Raé„„bigh refinery and petrochemical complex.
Bechtel’s oil, gas, and chemicals business unit revenue increased by 4% in 2005 to $18.1 billion. The company continued to grow its business based on the growth of the LNG market, and its contracted projects are in state-owned Australia, Egypt, Ecuador, Guinea, and Trinidad.
The new round of construction boom will continue into the 2008 chemical project for the engineering company to hold a big "cake"
In recent years, a large number of chemical construction projects around the world, especially in China and the Middle East, have provided tremendous development opportunities for construction companies. According to analysis, with the increase in the demand for petrochemical products, polymers and pharmaceuticals, various chemical projects under construction are increasing. According to the statistics and forecasts of the UK-based Frull company, the total project construction cost this year is expected to increase by about 10%. The new round of construction boom from 2004 will continue into 2008.