Foster Wheeler AG announced a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by PDVSA Petróleo S.A. for the engineering, procurement services and construction management (EPCm) for the El Palito Refinery Expansion Project in Venezuela. Foster Wheeler will execute the project in consortium with Toyo Engineering Corporation from Japan and Y & V Ingeniería y Construcción from Venezuela.

Foster Wheeler and its consortium partners have previously completed the front-end engineering design for the project. The value of the EPCm award was not disclosed and will be included in Foster Wheeler’s third-quarter 2012 bookings.

The major expansion of the refinery will include a number of new units, including a 140,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD) crude/vacuum distillation unit, a 24,500 BPSD naphtha hydrotreating/continuous catalytic reformer complex, a 58,000 BPSD vacuum gasoil hydrotreater, a 45,000 BPSD diesel hydrotreater, an 80 million standard cubic feet per day hydrogen production unit, a 250 tonnes per day sulfur recovery/tail gas treatment unit, a new flare system, amine regeneration and sour water stripper facilities, and relevant utilities, interconnecting and off-sites, including marine facilities and a new product storage tank farm.

The expansion is intended to double the refinery’s capacity to 280,000 BPSD, processing heavy and extra-heavy crudes from the Orinoco Belt, and increasing production of clean fuels. The project is expected to be completed during 2016.

“Foster Wheeler and PDVSA have, over the years, built a strong working relationship, based on the excellence of our project execution and our world-class technical expertise,” said Umberto della Sala, Chief Operating Officer, Foster Wheeler AG. “This relationship, together with our proven ability to execute complex projects and our heavy crude expertise, was key to our success in winning this project.”

“Foster Wheeler is a strong and capable FEED and EPCm contractor with significant experience in Venezuela and in executing major refinery expansion projects,” said PDVSA. “They will play a key role in the project as part of this winning consortium, which consortium is very well-qualified to deliver this important upgrade project successfully and safely.”

The El Palito refinery is located close to Pto. Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela. Foster Wheeler has previously designed and built several units of the refinery.

To see the El Palito refinery site