Fluor is leading the FDH JV, partnering with Daewoo Construction and Engineering and Hyundai Heavy Industries. This JV is also executing the brownfield and greenfield KNPC Clean Fuels MAB2 project at the nearby KNPC Mina Abdullah refinery in Kuwait. FDH JV provided KIPIC with the most competitive lump sum EPC offer for a combination of two packages for the Al-Zour project, thus securing the contract.
Packages 2 and 3 include scope and technology similar to the greenfield MAB2 project, with larger capacity and/or more parallel trains. The scope includes process units, utilities and infrastructure for the new Al-Zour Refinery project.
The contract was signed in October 2015. FDH JV leads the project from the Fluor Amsterdam office, supported by offices in New Delhi, Al Khobar, Kuwait, Houston and Seoul. Sourcing of materials is global, with a preferential treatment to local suppliers and subcontractors. Peak labor at the site in Kuwait was 20,000 people.
The project has employed a strategy of large-scale off-site pipe fabrication and pre-assembled rack and pre-assembled unit (PAR + PAU) modular execution. Module fabrication took place at the COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (COOEC-Fluor) fabrication yard in Zhuhai, China.
COOEC-Fluor delivered 188 modules in 20 separate shipments with a combined weight of 65,000 metric tons. In addition, the yard fabricated more than 95,000 pipe spools of carbon, alloy and stainless steel pipe.
The final module shipment arrived in December 2019 at the project site in Kuwait. The project is 99% construction complete, and most of the utilities and infrastructure are already in operation/use.
Realization of the entire Al-Zour Refinery has been divided by KIPIC into five discrete packages as follows:
- Package 1 – Main Process Units (by others)
- Package 2 Support Process Units – Includes Hydrogen Recovery Unit (HR), Hydrogen Compression Unit (HC), Hydrogen Production Units (HPU), Sour Water Stripper Unit (SWS), Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU), Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) and Tail Gas Treating Unit (TGTU), Flare, Sulfur Pelletizing / Conveying, Acid Gas Flare, Sulfur Storage Area
- Package 3 Utilities and Offsites – Includes Steam Generation Unit, Air Systems, Water Systems, Cooling Water Unit, EICS & ICSS, HV Substations, Interconnecting Pipe Rack, Wastewater Treating, and a large size campus area with Administration Building, Training Center, Laboratory, Mosque, HSE/Clinic/Fire-brigade, Central Control Room, Supermarket and dozens of refinery support buildings for security, operations and maintenance
- Package 4 – Tank Farm (by others)
- Package 5 – Marine and Export Facilities (by others)