China Timeline

In 1888, John Simon "Si" Fluor emigrated from Switzerland to America in search of challenges and opportunity. He previously trained as a journeyman carpenter in the Swiss guild and brought with him the ethos that system embodied — a reverence for craftsmanship and the ambition to build structures that would outlast the builder.

In 1912, Mr. Fluor founded Fluor Construction Company in Santa Ana, California, leading the company until his death in 1944. Fluor Construction Company performed general contracting at the start and quickly gained a reputation for quality and innovation.

The lump-sum 50,000-tpy grassroots plant included a two-train continuous solvent polymerization plant that produced high-impact and general purpose polystyrene with its design based on Fina licensed technology. Fluor executed engineering, procurement of major offshore equipment and bulk materials and construction management.

Fluor provided program management services to BASF-YPC as part of an integrated management team of personnel from Fluor, BASF and Yangzi Petroleum Corp (a subsidiary of Sinopec). This major petrochemicals complex in Nanjing, China, was the largest single project to be undertaken by BASF and was our first large project management contract in China. We also performed front-end engineering and design and engineering, procurement and construction management services for the offsites, utilities and infrastructure. The whole program was completed in 2005.

Fluor was selected by ConocoPhillips China, Inc. to develop the largest offshore oil production facility in Bohai Bay, China. Phase I was the design package for a fixed production platform tied to a refurbished floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) system. Phase II was the full field development with five additional platforms, interconnecting sub-sea pipelines and a new-build FPSO.

The project went on to win the Engineering Project of the Year Award from Platts as well as Fluor's Hugh K. Coble Award.

Fluor constructed two LCD glass panel manufacturing facilities in Taichung and Beijing for Corning. Design and construction were fast-tracked to meet the client’s timeline. Personnel in our Shanghai, Taipei and Greenville offices contributed to the project.

In 2006, Fluor was awarded a program and construction management contract for the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The mine represented the largest engineering and construction project in Mongolia, and became one of the world's largest copper mines when it commenced operations in 2013. Fluor China provided design and procurement support for the infrastructure, with the Shanghai office supplying 60 percent of the project's technical and support personnel.

Fluor announced that it has assisted in the successful startup of production at Peng Lai (PL) 19-3 blocks' Phase 2 project located in China's Bohai Bay.

Fluor performed engineering services throughout the project, which included conceptual engineering, front-end engineering and design (FEED) and detailed engineering. Fluor also provided procurement services for three wellhead platforms and construction support in fabrication yards in Shanghai, Tanggu and Singapore. Engineering and procurement were performed from Fluor's global execution centers in Houston, Shanghai and Manila, the Philippines.

Fluor performed engineering, procurement, construction management and project management for a major siloxane intermediate facility constructed in the Jiangsu Yangtze River Chemical Industrial Park. The scope included chlorosilane storage, methyl chloride storage, overheads/pipe rack, undergrounds, wastewater treatment and water scrubber, product storage, demineralized water and steam boiler systems, tank farm and material and energy recover unit, acid neutralization and solids treatment.

Fluor was selected by BASF as its engineering partner in Asia and Europe. Following that demonstration of client confidence, BASF subsequently named Fluor as its engineering partner for capital projects in North America in 2012.

The American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture constructed the $1.8-billion, 625-meter-long East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. This first-ever, single-tower, self-anchored suspension (SAS) bridge was at the time the largest public infrastructure project in California's history

Bridge components were fabricated in the United States, Europe and Asia. A secondary office was established in Shanghai, China, to oversee production of the main structural steel fabrication and supply. Bridge components shipped via eight shipments, arriving every two months from China.

Photo courtesy of Eric Christianson.

The BASF Ultramid® Polymerization Plant was the first contract awarded in China under the BASF-Fluor Asia Umbrella Partnership agreement announced in July 2011. The Fluor China team achieved mechanical completion of the BASF Ultramid® Polymerization Plant in Shanghai on October 10, 2014, ahead of schedule with no LTI and under budget.

Fluor's Shanghai office assisted a joint venture between BASF and Sinopec with a facility located in Maoming, China. We executed the pre-front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED) support, FEED and detailed engineering, procurement and construction management for the plant, which included process units with supporting infrastructure, utilities and offsite facilities for the production of iso-nonanol (INA). The INA plant was one of the first self-performed comprehensive FEED projects to be done in China and also one of the first FEED projects executed entirely by a local Chinese team.

In September 2016, Fluor announced mechanical completion of a citral facility and associated infrastructure for BASF PETRONAS Chemicals in Kuantan, Malaysia. The facility produces citral, among other aroma ingredients, to meet the growing demand for citral-based products in the flavor and fragrance industry. The procurement scope was led from Fluor's Shanghai office.

Fluor was selected by BASF to provide front-end engineering and design and engineering, procurement and construction management for a new automotive coatings plant in Shanghai. The expanded facility produces innovative and eco-efficient automotive coatings that support the growing automotive industry in China and better serve local car manufacturers.

Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction for a new 400 kilo-ton-per-annum adiponitrile (ADN) plant in Shanghai, China. The plant's products are used in the manufacturing of a variety of goods, including those in the automotive, industrial, apparel and consumer electronics industries.

In 2023, the project won Engineering News-Record's award for Global Best Project in the manufacturing category.