Bilfinger Middle East wins major EPC contracts from Adnoc

Bilfinger, a leading global engineering and industrial services provider based in Mannheim, Germany, said it has secured a major contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to provide turnkey installation, replacement and modification services for its refining unit in Ruwais in the UAE emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Bilfinger’s Middle East division had won three separate projects from Adnoc during the first quarter. As per the first deal, Bilfinger will design, supply, install and upgrade solutions related to the Abu Dhabi group’s hydrocracker (HCK) and hydroskimmer (HSK) units. Tie-ins are expected to be carried out during a major turnaround in 2020, it adds.

Under a second contract, Bilfinger will provide specialised EPC services for the installation of Bernoulli filters for the HCK unit’s seawater network as well as LPG transfer pumps and progressive cavity pumps at the HSK plant.

At the same industrial complex, the company was also awarded a contract to perform piping modifications for service water and eye shower facilities. The scope of work includes the replacement of certain lines, with associated civil and structural works for above-ground and underground pipe network systems.

All three projects are expected to be completed in 2020, states the European company which boasts nearly half a century of presence in the UAE.

A leading international industrial services provider, Bilfinger says its portfolio covers the entire value chain from consulting, engineering, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance to environmental technologies and digital applications.

Raimondi LR213 luffing jib cranes ... at the Beach Vista development site.

Raimondi delivers luffers at Nurol’s Dubai work site

Nurol Construction Company, part of the Nurol Group of Companies, says it has taken delivery of four new Raimondi LR213 luffing jib cranes in Dubai, UAE.

Raimondi Cranes Middle East mobilised three teams for the offload, assembly and installation of the new cranes, now at work onsite at the Beach Vista luxury development by Emaar.

The development, scheduled for completion in August 2021, is situated on an exclusive private island planned to have 27 residential towers overlooking the Arabian Gulf.

Wael Hasan, the commercial director for Raimondi Cranes Middle East, says: “The initial proposal included an intensive jobsite study followed by site planning focusing on the positioning of the cranes.”

Raimondi Cranes of Italy is a major manufacturer of quality topless tower and luffing cranes.

“Due to the high amount of simultaneous construction activity onsite, the site planning was crucial to ensure the safety and productivity metrics that Nurol wanted to achieve,” states Hassan.

Two of the new cranes, each with a jib length of 50 m, are the first-ever Raimondi LR213s to be erected internally in existing structures onsite in the UAE, while the two cranes installed outside of the structures both have jib lengths of 55 m, explains Hassan.

“Raimondi’s Middle East operations team will be performing monthly onsite maintenance, and as part of the overall after-sales care package, we will later execute the jumping procedure to enable the cranes to reach 150 m in height,” he adds.

Tahsin Tahmaz, the PTD manager at Nurol, says Nurol decided that the Raimondi luffers were the best fit for this jobsite based on a number of factors including the LR213’s agility and its 14-tonne maximum capacity.

Saudi Oger’s debts ‘more than $10bn’

A Saudi court has estimated the accumulated debts of the now-liquidated construction giant Saudi Oger to be at more than SR40 billion ($10.6 billion), says a report.

This includes SR22 billion owed to suppliers and SR2.6 billion owed to employees in outstanding dues such as delayed salaries and allowances, end-of-service awards and other entitlements, states the Saudi Gazette, citing the Executive Court in Riyadh. They said the money kept in the court’s custody only amounted to SR83.7 million while the company’s bank account only had a balance of SR171,000.

According to the sources, more than 6,000 people had approached the court demanding it to intervene to get their dues from the company paid, in addition to a number of banks and private companies, the report says.

The sources said the company also owed the government SR38 billion.