Fluor awarded front-end engineering contract for Louisiana refinery expansion

Fluor Corporation announced recently that it had been selected by Marathon Petroleum Co. LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp., to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for a proposed $2.2 billion expansion at the company's Garyville, La., refinery.

Marathon's final investment decision for this expansion is subject to completion of the FEED and receipt of applicable permits. The FEED contract value was not disclosed and will be booked in the fourth quarter.

"Fluor is pleased to continue its long-standing relationship with Marathon by being part of an important project that would provide much-needed refining capacity to the U.S. We are dedicated to supporting Marathon's success on this project," said Jeff Faulk, Fluor's group president of Energy & Chemicals.

Fluor's services will include front-end engineering for new processing units, as well as utilities and off sites. The contract will be performed over a 12-month period and executed in Fluor's office in Houston, with support from the company's global engineering centers.

"Marathon looks forward to working with Fluor through the design phase of this important project, which would increase the capacity at our Garyville refinery from 245,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 425,000 bpd, enabling us to better meet the fuel supply needs of our customers," said Gary R. Heminger, Marathon executive vice president and president of MPC.

J. Ray McDermott Morgan City facility awarded jacket and deck fabrication

J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc., announced recently that it was awarded a contract by Seneca Resources Corporation for the design engineering, procurement, structural fabrication, process outfitting and loadout of a three-pile jacket and deck.

The contract is expected to be completed by May 2006

Components of the turnkey proposal include the jacket, deck with process facilities, piles and heliport. Pinnacle Engineering will provide the detail design and equipment procurement as the principle subcontractor working with J. Ray on the turnkey contract. The completed facility will be installed in approximately 124 ft. of water in Viosca Knoll Block 432.

"We expect this award to demonstrate to the market the cost competitiveness of J Ray's Morgan City facility for shelf work and our flexibility in bringing the right team members to the table to offer our customers a winning solution," said Steve Becnel, J Ray's general manager of fabrication operations.

J. Ray's Morgan City fabrication facility was established in 1956 and for over five decades has been the construction site for some of the offshore industry's most significant projects.

CAAL recieves ACI award

The Concrete and Aggregates Association of Louisiana (CAAL), headquartered in Baton Rouge, has received the American Concrete Institute's (ACI) Distinguished Achievement Award.

The award, presented in November during the ACI Fall Convention in Kansas City, Mo., is awarded yearly to non-member individuals or associations that have "made notable contributions to the advancement of the concrete industry, and, for outstanding contributions in the promotion of concrete use and education."

Accepted the award during the convention's opening session was Craig Duos, CAAL executive director.

CAAL was recognized for "striving to increase the use of portland cement concrete in the construction and rehabilitation of airports, highways, industrial facilities, streets, parking lots, residential homes, commercial buildings and other construction-related uses throughout Louisiana."

CAAL serves as a liaison with local government agencies, legislators, affiliated associations and organizations and also provides expanded political involvement and public relations initiatives targeting state and local public officials. The association also offers technical support and technology transfer programs to provide the latest technical information and to address issues important to the portland cement concrete industry.

CAAL was organized in 1989 and is comprised of four divisions, Ready Mix, Aggregates, Pipe and Paving.