Fluor Corporation announced that it was awarded a contract by North West Redwater Partnership to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for a new refinery project in Alberta, Canada. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the third quarter of 2011.

Under the contract, Fluor will be responsible for two sections of the refinery that will upgrade bitumen, separating components and removing impurities, and will also re-evaluate the FEED deliverables based on a revised crude slate.

"The Redwater bitumen refinery will feature state-of-the-art controls to minimize its environmental footprint while providing much needed additional energy resources for North America," said Peter Oosterveer, president of Fluor's Energy & Chemicals Group. "Fluor looks forward to providing FEED services to the North West Redwater Partnership as the important Canadian energy sector continues to expand."

The North West Redwater Partnership is a joint venture between North West Upgrading, Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Limited.

The Redwater refinery, which will be located north of Edmonton, will use oil sands bitumen to produce diesel, diluent, naphtha and other related products. The refinery will incorporate gasification and carbon capture and storage to reduce its environmental impact.

The engineering project will be executed by Fluor's offices in Calgary, Houston and New Delhi.