Fluor Corporation has launched work on a major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the first oilfield speciality chemical manufacturing reaction plant located within PlasChem Park in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

The Halliburton Specialty Chemicals Manufacturing Reaction Plant is being built for the US-based Halliburton, one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry.

PlasChem Park, located in Jubail Industrial City II next to Sadara’s new manufacturing complex, is a 12-sq-km industrial space dedicated for the chemical and conversion industries.

The new chemicals facility will produce a wide range of specialty chemical products and intermediates to supply both the upstream and downstream oil and gas production industries.

On the contract win, Simon Nottingham, the president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals business in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, says: “Having completed the front-end engineering design, we are pleased to undertake the design and construction of this major investment that accelerates Halliburton’s strategic expansion of its fast-growing specialty chemicals business.”

“Fluor will use its full integrated solutions portfolio and its local execution capabilities to optimise the design and deliver a capital-efficient project with schedule certainty,” states Nottingham.

Fluor’s scope of work includes engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. The US group’s Al Khobar office in Saudi Arabia will lead the project with the team that performed the previous front-end engineering design contract and will be supported by Fluor’s global chemicals experts.

Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Halliburton says once the plant gets fully completed in 2020, it will begin local manufacturing of specialty chemicals to help customers achieve production and reliability goals in applications from the reservoir to the refinery.

“This is a strategic, targeted expansion to accelerate our fast-growing specialty chemicals business. We are excited to house this premiere facility in Saudi Arabia while continuing to strengthen our commitment to the In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) programme,” remarks Jeff Miller, Halliburton chairman, president, and CEO.

“We chose Saudi Arabia for this plant because it provides an advantaged location for us to deliver our value proposition of superior service and chemical applications expertise to Eastern Hemisphere customers, and because of our strong 80-year history of success in the kingdom,” he states.

“The plant will have capabilities to manufacture a broad slate of chemicals for stimulation, production, midstream, and downstream engineered treatment programmes,” he notes.