Foster Wheeler Selected to Add LAB and N-Paraffins Units in Qatar

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (Doha, Qatar) has selected the engineering and construction firm, Foster Wheeler, Incorporated (NYSE:FWC) (Al Khoba, Saudi Arabia), to add a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) unit and an N-paraffins unit at an existing chemical complex in Umm Sa'id, Qatar.

Construction is currently scheduled to begin in late 2003, after the design and engineering process has been completed. Together, the units will cost approximately $250 million and should be operational by late 2005. Both units will use UOP LLC's (Des Plaines, Illinois) process technology to produce 88,000 metric tons a year of LAB and 110,000 metric tons a year of N-paraffins.

Normal paraffins are produced by fractionating and stripping kerosene and then are used as feedstock to produce LAB. The UOP LAB process is utilized in approximately 70 percent of the world's LAB production units. UOP claims that its technology is the most "economical technology" for the production of LAB by offering process equipment, as well as catalysts and adsorbents. UOP has been supplying LAB technology since the 1940's and continues to improve on its process technology and service.

Foster Wheeler employs over 10,000 people globally and has established itself as an international company that prides itself on its diversity, integrity and unmatched commitment to the client's needs concerning design, engineering and construction of all ranges of industrial processes and technology. Their total revenues for 2001 stood at $3.4 billion with $3.3 billion in assets.