Fluor Corporation has completed the multi-billion-dollar Olefins II Project for a joint venture of Dow Chemical Company, Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), Bubyan Petrochemical and Qurain Petrochemical Industries in Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Fluor began work on the project in July 2004 by providing overall management consultancy and front-end engineering and design (Feed) work for utilities and infrastructure. The Olefins II Project was completed in June 2009 with a safety record that achieved 42 million safe hours without a lost-time incident.

“The completion of this project is a significant milestone for our client and for Fluor. The sheer size and scope along with the outstanding safety record makes this a true hallmark project,” said Peter Oosterveer, Fluor’s president of Energy and Chemicals.

In addition to the overall management consultancy and Feed work for utilities and infrastructure, Fluor was also awarded the Feed and engineering, procurement and construction management for the sea water cooling towers, polyethylene expansion, expansion of existing utilities and infrastructure, and new utilities and infrastructure shared with aromatics.

During the five-year project, Fluor introduced innovative solutions to meet many of the unique challenges including assisting the client in the development of a closed circuit seawater cooling system including onsite hyperbolic cooling towers.
 
Other notable accomplishments on the Olefins II Project included overseeing engineering and construction of:
An 850,000-tons-per-year ethane cracker;
A 600,000-tons-per-year ethylene glycol unit;
A 450,000-tons-per-year ethyl benzene/styrene monomer unit; and
A debottleneck expansion of an additional 225,000 tons per year of polyethylene capacity at the existing complex.

In 1998, Fluor completed one of the world’s largest petrochemical plants at the Shuaiba location in Kuwait. In 2005 after completion of Feed work, Fluor was again chosen to expand the plant and build a new facility alongside the existing one while integrating the two facilities into a single complex. The Olefins II Project doubled the capacity of the existing complex.-TradeArabia News Service