Fluor was awarded the PMC services for the large-scale Ma’aden Aluminum Complex. Fluor also provided PMC and EPCM services on individual projects. The savings within the overall Program allowed Ma’aden to add the automotive sheet facility later in the project, executed as an EPCM contract by Fluor. A summary of the various project scopes follows:
Integrated Infrastructure Project - Fluor’s scope included Integrated Infrastructure EPCM, including a 27-kilometer gas pipeline, utilities, security, and buildings. The Ma’aden Aluminum Site Complex covers 20 square kilometers.
Bauxite Mine & Refinery Project – WPF JV originally awarded EPCM services, which were converted to PMC services after the project was awarded on lump sum bases to several contractors, on the mine and refinery. The mine has a capacity of 4 million metric tons per year; the refinery’s capacity is 1.8 million metric tons per year. Bauxite is shipped from the mine to the refinery by rail, approximately 560 kilometers west of the integrated site and port facilities. At the refinery, the bauxite is crushed, refined and converted to alumina, which is then conveyed to the smelting facility.
Construction of the refinery included installation of:
- 225,000m3 of concrete
- 42,000 tons of steel
- 20,000 tons of tanks
- 450,000 meters of piping
- 40,000 tons to equipment
- 4.1 million meters of cable
Smelter – Fluor provided PMC services for the aluminum smelter where commercial aluminum ingots, as well as slabs are produced and transported for processing through the rolling mill and/or automotive sheet facilities.
Aluminum Rolling Mill Project – Fluor completed Phases 2 and 3 of the front-end loading portion of the rolling mill project. EPCM was then awarded as a lump-sum contract to another firm with Fluor providing limited oversight. Fluor later added construction coordination and turnover resources to support startup and turnover to Ma’aden. Fluor and the contractor achieved over 40 million safe work hours.
Automotive Sheet Project – As a result of cost savings from other sub-projects, Ma’aden awarded FEL and EPCM for the 50 kta capacity automotive sheet facility to Fluor. The project was a late addition to the overall scope and was important to the development of automotive manufacturing capacity in the Kingdom. Fluor successfully completed the EPCM contract on the Automotive Sheet facility in 2015.
Fluor’s Operations & Maintenance (O&M) – Fluor’s O&M team worked with the owner’s team during FEED and mobilized to the site providing operational readiness technical services and pre-start-up deliverables. This portion of the project ended in December 2014.
The Integrated Aluminum Complex project and sub-projects were staffed during a peak time in the mining and metals business so Fluor called upon the company’s other business lines to support the various projects, truly a One Fluor integrated approach.
Total peak workforce on site was 36,000, covering 30 different nationalities, with a Saudization content of 23 percent.