Total lets contract for Donges refinery

Total SA has let a contract to Amec Foster Wheeler PLC to deliver front-end engineering design for a project to boost production of cleaner fuels at subsidiary Total Raffinage France’s 219,000-b/d Donges refinery near Saint Nazaire, France.

Amec Foster Wheeler’s scope of work will include providing FEED studies for a vacuum gas oil hydrotreater (VGO HDS) unit and sour-water stripping unit, as well as for modifications to existing units and interconnections at the refinery, the service provider said.

While it did not disclose a value of the FEED contract, Amec Foster Wheeler said it expects to complete its work under the agreement during this year’s fourth quarter.

The FEED study comes as part of Total’s previously announced €400-million modernization and overhaul of the Donges refinery, which alongside VGO HDS and sour-water stripping capacity, also includes a planned €150-million rerouting of an existing rail line that runs through the production site and the addition of a steam methane reformer (OGJ Online, Nov. 5, 2015; Apr. 16, 2015).

Total, which previously announced it would commission the proposed and revamped units sometime in 2019, let a contract to Axens SA in late 2015 to deliver technology licensing for a 40,000-b/d VHO HDS unit to be built as part of the upgrade (OGJ Online, Oct. 13, 2015).

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].