Khor Al Zubair Power Plant - EPC

Fluor performed engineering, procurement, and construction services for the Khor Al Zubair Power Plant, which provides power to approximately 100,000 Iraqi homes. In addition, the Fluor-led team trained Iraqi Ministry of Electricity employees on how to operate and maintain this modern facility.

The Khor Al Zubair power project received Fluor's Hugh Coble Project Excellence Award in 2005. The award is based on outstanding performance in several areas; including safety, value creation, and Client and community relations.

Client's Challenge

In the years immediately following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the citizens of Iraq faced deteriorating infrastructure and a lack of basic utilities. Located in a remote region of southern Iraq, the Khor Al Zubair gas-turbine power plant is designed to supply electricity for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

The Client organization on this project was complex, due to the number of U.S. and Iraqi stakeholders at a critical juncture in Iraq's progress towards democracy. The primary Client was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, although the ultimate customer was Iraq's Ministry of Electricity. This project was implemented in a wartime security environment amidst three unprecedented nationwide free elections and to a more aggressive timetable than a typical fast-track U.S. power-plant project.

Fluor's Solution

The Khor Al Zubair project was the largest U.S. Government-funded power-plant project undertaken in Iraq. Fluor's success depended on the rapid mobilization of 40 design office professionals and 25 expats to the site. Construction personnel were mobilized to the site when engineering was approximately 15 percent complete, so engineering documents were in use at the site within days of issue.

Fluor hired and trained 1,000 local Iraqi craft workers over the course of the project, employing 20 Iraqi staff members in various disciplines. Fluor also employed security teams to protect the workforce and established rigorous security measures for site access control.

The Iraqi contractors were trained in Fluor's work-safety culture. Using lessons learned from previous Iraq experiences, the project management team created a detailed health, safety, environmental and security plan tailored to meet the project's unique challenges. The Khor Al Zubair project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget while achieving 1.7 million safe work hours.

Conclusion

Each month the Khor Al Zubair project contributed $1 million to the local Iraqi community through the purchase of daily goods, services, subcontracts, and construction materials. Upon completion, the Client requested the Fluor team stay onsite to perform plant operations and maintenance consulting for Iraqi Ministry of Electricity employees.

The project increased the power generation capacity of the southern Iraq grid by 20 percent. The success of this grassroots project became a milestone of Fluor's business with the U.S. Department of Defense and the newly sovereign Iraqi government.