CB&I Wins US, Kazakhstan Projects

CB&I has won a contract worth around $40 million to expand ethylene capacity at DuPont’s Sabine River Works in Orange, Texas, USA. The US contractor will provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a new ethane cracking furnace, which will have an ethylene capacity of 90,000 t/y.

The facility will use CB&I’s Short Residence Time (SRT) pyrolysis heater technology. A start-up date for the furnace was not given. CB&I said it previously won the contract to provide the ethylene technology license, engineering and supply of the furnace, which was fabricated at the contractor’s facility in Thailand.

Luke Scorsone, executive vice president of CB&I’s Fabrication Services group, said this latest award adds to its winning streak of ethylene projects on the US Gulf Coast. “CB&I’s ability to deliver single-source supply of every phase of this project – from concept to mechanical completion – provides DuPont with a cost-effective, low-risk solution as they expand their ethylene copolymers capacity to meet market demand,” he said.

DuPont announced in September 2014 that it planned to invest more than $100 million on a series of expansion projects at its Texas plants during 2014-2018 to meet rising demand for the specialty resins, which are used in a variety of packaging and industrial applications.

In separate news, CB&I announced it has also won a contract from TOO Hill Resources for the license and engineering design of a lube base oil plant in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The plant will use Chevron Lummus Global’s (CLG) proprietary Isocracking, Isodewaxing, Isofinishing and Solvent Deasphalting technologies to produce high-quality base oils and clean fuels.

Daniel McCarthy, CB&I’s executive vice president of technology, said the award is CLG’s first in Kazakhstan and represented additional growth for the Central Asia region.

CLG is a joint venture between Chevron USA and CB&I.