CB&I's $2 Billion in Fourth-Quarter Kickoffs, Completions Fueled by Energy Projects in U.S., Europe

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Like many other engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) leaders, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) (CB&I) (The Hague, Netherlands) has faced a challenging industrial environment, as oil and gas exploration companies have slowed spending on expansions amid low prices and rough weather. Still, CB&I is taking part in $343 million in project starts and $1.68 billion in project completions that are planned for the fourth quarter, according to Industrial Info's project database, largely in the Power Generation and Oil & Gas industries.

CB&I began construction last year on a pair of natural gas-fired energy projects in the Texas Gulf Coast region that are set to be completed before the end of 2017: 8 Rivers Capital LLC's (Durham, North Carolina) $140 million NET Power Research Demonstration Project in La Porte, Texas, and ConocoPhillips' (NYSE:COP) (Houston, Texas) $90 million natural gas-fired unit addition at the Freeport LNG Liquefaction and Export Plant in Quintana, Texas.

The NET Power project will employ supercritical technology, which uses carbon dioxide to drive a combustion turbine and reduce emissions from natural gas-fired generation. According to MIT Technology Review, this technology "could enable a new generation of plants that provide clean power, without the development risks of nuclear, the geographic restrictions of hydroelectric, or the intermittency issues of solar and wind." Freeport's simple-cycle generator will provide 87 megawatts (MW) to its pretreatment plant. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the La Porte and Quintana projects.

Two other energy-related completions are expected in Eastern Europe. CB&I is performing EPC services on Orsted's (Gentofte, Denmark) construction of a $472.6 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) separation plant at a refinery in Fredericia, Denmark. The 35,000-BBL/d facility, which will include a crude oil stabilization unit and a gas-processing unit, will support a planned development in the North Sea's Hejre oil and gas field.

CB&I also is at work on SOCAR's (Baku, Azerbaijan) $150 million natural gas compressor station near Jandari, Georgia, a part of the South Caucasus Natural Gas Pipeline Expansion from Azerbaijan to Turkey. The station will feature four turbines to assist the pipeline in transporting up to 16 billion cubic meters per year of natural gas. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Fredericia and Georgia projects.

CB&I's kickoffs for the remainder of the year are concentrated in Eastern Europe, where a European subsidiary is providing design-engineering services for NGI-Management LLC's (Moscow, Russia) $150 million addition of a hydrocracker unit at a refinery in Afipskiy, Russia. Construction on the 50,000-BBL/d VGO hydrocracker, which will reduce sulfur content in fuels, is expected to wrap up in early 2020. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The same subsidiary is providing technology for Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen SA's (Plock, Poland) addition of a propylene unit at a petrochemical complex in Plock, Poland. The unit is expected to produce 100,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene, and it currently is expected to finish construction in the third quarter of 2018. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In the U.S., CB&I is at work on nearly $83 million in fourth-quarter maintenance turnarounds at nuclear and natural gas-fired power plants across the country.

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