Foster Wheeler AG announced that Foster Wheeler SOFCON, an unincorporated consortium between a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler's Engineering and Construction Group and A. Al-Saihati, A. Fattani & O. Al-Othman Consulting Engineering Co., (SOFCON), has been awarded a contract by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) for the front-end engineering design (FEED) and project management services for the Clean Transportation Fuels Project at the Riyadh Refinery, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Foster Wheeler contract value for this project was not disclosed. The initial release of work was included in the company's first-quarter 2011 bookings. The company expects to receive the main release of work in the third quarter of 2011.

The objective of this project is to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline and diesel produced by the refinery to 10 parts per million, and to reduce the level of benzene in gasoline.

The company's FEED scope includes new isomerization, naphtha splitting and sulfur guard-bed units as well as the addition of new equipment, including a diesel hydrotreater reactor, in existing units. The FEED also includes the debottlenecking of the hydrocracker and gas concentration units, and replacement of crude and vacuum distillation tower internals. Other new facilities include two new tanks, a new pipe rack, instrument air compressor, condensate system, substation, process interface building and workshop. Main control and monitoring systems will also be upgraded, as will the laboratory facilities.

In a joint statement, Umberto della Sala, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Foster Wheeler AG, and Ala'a Fattani, President and Chief Executive Officer, SOFCON, said, "We have been involved in this project from its early stages and are delighted to receive this latest award from Saudi Aramco. Our intention is to execute the FEED in-Kingdom from our offices in Al-Khobar."

See the Riyadh Refinery site