Texas Engineering Firms Perform Around the Globe

KBR, CB&I and Fluor Corp. lead efforts worldwide with engineering, construction and management of projects from offshore drilling to petroleum-storage-tank building and cleanup of radioactive waste.

BP Awards KBR Contract for Offshore Projects

KBR of Houston was recently awarded a four-year contract, with an option for extension, to provide engineering and project management for BP’s offshore developments worldwide.

In the agreement KBR and KBR subsidiaries Granherne and GVA Consultants will provide conceptual studies, front-end engineering and design, detailed design and project management for BP offshore projects across the globe.

Granherne is a front-end engineering consultancy for onshore, offshore and deepwater oil and gas developments. GVA Consultants is a marine engineering firm.

CB&I Awarded Contracts for Trans-Panama Pipeline, Calif. Refinery

CB&I of The Woodlands was awarded a more than $40 million contract by Petroterminal De Panama, S.A., to engineer, fabricate and construct petroleum storage tanks associated with the Trans-Panama Pipeline Expansion Project. The tanks will be built at Chiriqui Grande on the Atlantic coast and Puerto Armuelles on the Pacific coast.

CB&I was also awarded a contract for a large-scale hydrogen plant at a California refinery valued at approximately $90 million. CB&I’s work consists of engineering, procurement and fabrication of a 100 million standard cu-ft-per-day plant to supply high-purity hydrogen and help the refinery meet new clean-fuel standards. Completion is scheduled for early 2010.

Fluor Corp. Serves as Prime Contractor for DOE Project

Irving-based Fluor Corp. was named part of the winning team to execute the Plateau Remediation Contract at the Hanford Site in the state of Washington. The winning team is headed by CH2M HILL of Englewood, Colo., which will serve as the prime contractor for the Department of Energy. The PRC is a multi-year project focusing on the environmental cleanup of the Central Plateau of DOE’s Hanford site.

The scope of work includes treatment and disposal of various radioactive waste streams, treatment of groundwater, management of spent nuclear fuel, disposal of nuclear materials, demolition of non-reactor nuclear facilities and environmental remediation activities.

Cajun Constructors Awarded Port Arthur Refinery Expansion Contract

The Port Arthur/Gulf Coast division of Cajun Contractors Inc., a subsidiary of Cajun Industries LLC of Baton Rouge, was awarded contracts for the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery Expansion Project in Port Arthur.

Cajun’s initial scope of work includes installation of all foundations, underground piping and grounding, and backfill for the hydrocracker unit. Cajun expects to place 24,000 cu yds of structural concrete over a nine-month span.

The Motiva Port Arthur Refinery Expansion Project is expanding the refinery’s current capacity to more than 600,000 bpd, making it the largest refinery in the U.S. and among the top 10 in the world. Bechtel Corp. of Houston and Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, Calif., a joint venture, is serving as the prime engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

Auction House Plans Build-to-Suit at Dallas Logistics Hub

Carmel, Ind.-based ADESA, an auction and other vehicle-related services firm, agreed to a 20-year lease for a new auto auction center at the 6,000-acre multimodal Dallas Logistics Hub.

The build-to-suit facility will be on 175 acres in the city of Hutchins. The property will house three buildings totaling approximately 196,000 sq ft for an auction arena, administrative and financial offices and reconditioning facilities.

Dallas-based The Allen Group, developers of the Dallas Logistics Hub, and ADESA will design and construct the facility as LEED certified. It is expected to be operational in summer 2009.

The Dallas Logistics Hub’s speculative industrial buildings are the first industrial buildings in North Texas to pursue LEED certification.

Texas Firms Among Winners of Post-Tensioning Institute Awards

The Post-Tensioning Institute recently named recipients of its 2008 awards competition. Submissions are judges on creativity, innovation, ingenuity, cost effectiveness, functionality, constructability and aesthetics.

An award of merit in the Slab-on-Ground category went to post-tensioning supplier Fort Worth-based GSI Post-Tension for the Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney. Other project team members include Grand Prairie-based Graham-Martin Inc., and SDP Development and IAM Construction Corp., both of McKinney.

In the Parking Structure category, Houston-based Walter P Moore received an award of excellence for the Tampa International Airport Economy Garage in Tampa, Fla. Other project team members include architect Gresham Smith and Partners with offices in Dallas and Clark Construction Co. of Bethesda, Md.