US Williams awards $300m ethylene expansion contract to CB&I

09 April 2012 15:44  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--US engineering firm CB&I has been awarded a contract to expand ethylene capacity at a Williams olefins plant in Geismar, Louisiana, CB&I said on Monday.

The contract is valued at about $300m (€228m) and includes the “license and basic engineering for the ethylene technology, the supply of the cracking furnaces and the detailed engineering, procurement and construction of the expansion project”, CB&I said.

The plant’s ethylene capacity is expected to be increased by about 600m lb/year (272,000 tonnes/year).

In September 2011, Williams announced plans to expand ethylene output at its Geismar cracker.

The project’s expected capital spending is in the range of $350m–400m in 2012-13, the company said.

The Geismar olefins plant is a light-end natural-gas-liquids (NGL) cracker with current volumes of 37,000 bbl/day of ethane and 3,000 bbl/day of propane. Ethylene production is at 1.35bn lb/year.

Earlier this month, Williams declared force majeure on US ethylene as a result of a disruption at the Geismar cracker.

Sources said on April 2 that the cracker will be down for two weeks and the company will restrict supply at 50%.

($1 = €0.76)

Additional reporting by Al Greenwood and William Lemos

By: Bobbie Clark
+1 713 525 2653

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