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Engineering & Design

ICA Fluor wins work to expand DuPont titanium dioxide plant in Mexico

ICA Fluor will be responsible for the construction, construction management and material management services for the TiO2 production facility. It is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Fluor wins FEED work from BP, Shell for clean fuels project in South Africa

The project will enable a substantial upgrade of the SAPREF refinery, thereby improving the quality of transportation fuels by reducing levels of sulfur, benzene and aromatics and meeting enhanced legislative requirements. The deal allows for a possible EPCm contract to be signed at a later date.

Shell taps Jacobs to design Hong Kong project for transformer oil processing

Under terms of the contract, Jacobs is providing detailed design engineering services for modifications to Shell’s existing terminal facility to enable the processing of transformer oil. Shell's 47-acre Tsing Yi installation supplies Hong Kong and Macau with a range of oil, gas and chemical products.

KBR wins pipe fabrication work from Shell Canada for oil sands CO2 capture

KBR says it will support Shell’s effort to maximize off-site modularization for this project by providing pipe spool fabrication and module assembly for pipe, process, equipment and building modules. The scope also includes the fabrication of several unique and innovative vertical modules.

WR Grace buys Australian waterproofing company Chemind Construction

Chemind adds new waterproofing technology to Grace’s global construction products portfolio and establishes its first waterproofing R&D and manufacturing facility in Australia. The new site will make waterproofing materials for repair, maintenance and improvement markets and for new construction.

Shale energy resources driving resurgence for ethylene industry

IHS Markit: Eramo, M.

The abundant supply of North American shale energy resources is proving to be not only a boon for exploration and production (E&P) companies and energy consumers, but it is also changing the profitabi..

North American olefin producers riding the shale gas wave

With the prospect of abundant low-cost ethane, several producers have announced intentions to build new ethylene capacity.

High-pressure polyethylene: Reemergence as a specialty chemical or not?

Nexant: Farrell, L.  |  Virosco, J.

The analysis results indicate that, while investment capital for new plants favors LLDPE, plant profitability—which is a function of product slate (revenue) and cost—is, in many cases, higher for LDPE plants.

HPI Focus: New vs. debottlenecking projects

Fluor: Turner, J.
SNC-Lavalin, Hydrocarbons & Chemicals: Luck, G.
MVS Consulting LLC: Van Sickels, M. J.

As most owners do not have adequately skilled engineering teams to study these scenarios, engaging an experienced, qualified engineering contractor to support the conceptual study is often warranted.

Evaluate challenges in meeting clean-fuel specifications with heavier crude

Saudi Aramco: Al-Zahrani, S.  |  Bright, E.  |  Roy, S.

At a Saudi Aramco refinery, a revamp was planned for processing a different crude oil blend to meet Euro 5 diesel and gasoline specifications. The refinery, which processes semi-light crude oil, is sc..