RusGazDobycha’s BCC lets contract for Ust-Luga cracker complex

JSC RusGazDobycha subsidiary Baltic Chemical Complex LLC (BCC), through its contractor, has let a contract to McDermott International Ltd. to provide additional services for BCC’s $13-billion ethane cracking project under construction on the Gulf of Finland near Ust-Luga, in Russia’s Leningrad region (OGJ Online, June 10, 2020; Apr. 2, 2019).

As part of the contract—awarded directly by project contractor China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corporation Seven Ltd. (CC7)—McDermott will deliver the engineering and procurement early works package for all schedule critical equipment for the project, the service provider said on Nov. 9.

While it disclosed neither a value nor timeframe for its work under the agreement, McDermott did confirm it will execute the early works package from the company’s offices in The Hague and Brno, Czech Republic.

This latest contract follows and expands CC7’s earlier award to McDermott in 2019 for extended basic engineering on the BCC project (OGJ Online, Nov. 18, 2019).

BCC, through CC7, most recently awarded a contract to McDermott partner Lummus Technology LLC to deliver engineering design and supply of 14 of its proprietary Short Residence Time (SRT) VI cracking furnaces for the complex’s two ethylene crackers that, combined, will produce up to 3 million tonnes/year of ethylene product (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2020).

First announced in 2019 and slated to become the largest ethylene integration project in the world once completed, the natural gas processing chemical plant will include two ethylene cracking sites—each with a capacity of 1.4 million tpy—six polyethylene trains with a combined processing capacity of 480,000 tpy, and two linear alpha olefin plants with a combined capacity of 137,000 tpy.

Construction work on the integrated complex—which will process ethane-containing gas from PJSC Gazprom’s production fields—currently is proceeding according to schedule, RusGazDobycha said in September.

The complex is due to be completed in two phases, with Phase 1 commissioning planned for fourth-quarter 2023 and Phase 2 startup to follow in fourth-quarter 2024.