Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections - Foster Wheeler awarded contract by Sincor for coker


Volume 3, issue #25 - 27-10-1998

Foster Wheeler awarded contract by Sincor for coker

Sept. 9, 1998 Sincor, a joint venture of PDVSA, Total Venezuela, and Statoil Venezuela A.S., has awarded a lump-sum turnkey contract of more than $ 350 mm to Foster Wheeler USA Corporation for a six-drum delayed-coking and gas-recovery unit in Jose, Venezuela.
The contract calls for Foster Wheeler to provide engineering, procurement, material supply, construction, commissioning, and start-up assistance services.
Work on the coker, which includes a gas-recovery unit and offsite coke handling/conveying, will start immediately, with the project scheduled for completion in 2001. Foster Wheeler's Venezuelan-based resources, Foster Wheeler Caribe, S.A. and Otepi Foster Wheeler, S.A. will participate in the execution of this work.

Foster Wheeler, which is serving as the front-end design engineering contractor for both the process refinery and the upstream well heads and transfer stations, has been closely involved in the development of the overall project.
In addition to being the technology licensor for this delayed-coking and gas- recovery unit, Foster Wheeler has been called on by Sincor to apply its extensive knowledge of delayed coking and construction execution in Venezuela to complete this project. The delayed coker is the centerpiece of Sincor's upgrader project to process extra-heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt in south-east Venezuela.
According to Carl Bartoli, President and CEO of Foster Wheeler USA Corporation, this project is the second and probably the largest of the upcoming petroleum industry development opportunities for foreign firms in Venezuela.
b"We view the economies of South America as an excellent marketplace for our services and products," Mr. Bartoli said. "This project is a significant opportunity for Foster Wheeler not only because it will allow us to add an important project to our already superior performance in Venezuela, but also because it will showcase our world-renowned SYDEC delayed-coking technology for processing this extra-heavy crude oil."