Azerbaijan lets contract for refining, petchem megacomplex
State-owned State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has let a contract to Fluor Corp. to provide project management contractor services for its long-planned oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex (OGPC) to be built 60 km southwest of Baku.
As project management contractor, Fluor will support SOCAR’s selection and management of future contractors that will perform detailed engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up of both the gas processing and petrochemical plants, including associated offsite installations, Fluor said.
The OGPC greenfield megaproject will include interfaces between the new gas processing and petrochemical production plants, as well as between associated process units, utilities, and offsites, according to the service provider.
Fluor, which will execute its scope of work on OGPC from its Farnborough office in Hampshire, England, said it will book an undisclosed value of the contract under its first quarter-2015 earnings.
First announced in 2012, OGPC initially was estimated by SOCAR to require an investment of $14 billion and be commissioned between 2017 and 2020 (OGJ Online, June 3, 2013).
While no firm revisions to total capital investment costs for the project have been confirmed by SOCAR, the project has been delayed, according to a November 2014 presentation from the company.
Based upon a project feasibility study for the proposed complex, SOCAR said it plans to commission OGCP on a phased basis during 2019-23.
In addition Fluor, SOCAR said it also has signed service and technology-related contracts for OGPC with Technip, UOP LLC, and KBR Inc.
In 2011, the state-owned company also entered a joint venture with Foster Wheeler specifically for development and implementation of OGPC, according to a July 14, 2011, release from Foster Wheeler.
Formed in 2012 and based in Azerbaijan, SOCAR-Foster Wheeler Engineering LLC initiated front-end engineering and design activities for OGPC and established a long-term partnership to collaborate on SOCAR’s future oil and gas projects around the world, the service provider said.
According to the latest description of the project, the proposed OGPC complex, which will include central utilities offsites, will be comprised of the following:
• A 12 billion cu m/year gas processing plant.
• A refinery, which will have an initial distillation capacity of 8.5-9 million tonnes/year.
• A 1.1-million-tpy petrochemical plant.
Once fully commissioned, OGPC will enable SOCAR to shut down and demolish aging oil and gas processing operations located in Baku and Sumgait, as well as help to further reduce Azerbaijan’s need to import petroleum-derived products from abroad.
