Amec Foster Wheeler wins FEED work from SOCAR

UK ENGINEERING project consultancy Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract by Azeri state oil company SOCAR for its oil refinery in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The contract is part of a US$1bn investment to modernise the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery to increase its capacity and improve the quality of the fuel produced.

The FEED work will consist of designing new facilities for diesel hydro-treatment, isomerisation, fluid catalytic cracking, sour water stripping, amine treatment and sulphur recovery. Amec Foster Wheeler will also refurbish a number of existing facilities including those for crude and vacuum distillation, fluid catalytic cracking and continuous catalytic reforming.

Amec Foster Wheeler and SOCAR have had a joint venture in Azerbaijan since 2011 and have worked together on many projects in the region.

Roberto Penno, regional group president at Amec Foster Wheeler, said: “We have successfully delivered a number of projects for SOCAR, both in Azerbaijan and in other countries and look forward to continuing our partnership with this contract for the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery.”

Amec Foster Wheeler said the development will include the integration of technologies by other providers at the refinery. In March,KBR won a contract with SOCAR to provide project management consultancy (PMC) to the refinery project with the goal of increasing the refinery’s processing capacity from 6m to 7.5m t/y, and expanding its catalytic cracking unit from 2m to 2.5m t/y.

Amec Foster Wheeler’s contribution to the refinery is due to be complete by Q1 of 2017, while the modernisation process will continue in phases until early 2020.

The Chemical Engineer contacted Amec Foster Wheeler to determine the value of the contract; however, a spokesperson for company said the amount was “not available”.