North American Petroleum Refining Project Investments up 240% from 2007

SUGAR LAND--July 14, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With the price of crude oil as high as $147 a barrel these days and all the pessimistic news about the economy, one might be surprised to see that certain facets of the construction industry are still booming. As of July 7, there were 444 projects in the Petroleum Refining Industry that have kicked off this year or will start construction before year's end at North American refineries. The total investment value for all projects in this industry is more than $34 billion. If all projects move forward, this would be a 240% increase from 2007 activity. The Great Lakes region accounts for the largest amount of investments this year with $5.94 billion, mainly due to six projects at the Detroit Refinery. Detroit's division of Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) (Houston, Texas) has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the projects to a Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) subsidiary based in Aliso Viejo, California.