Foster Wheeler AG announced that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Shell Global Solutions International BV to develop a basic engineering package (BEP) for a world-scale mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) facility at Ras Laffan, Qatar.

The value of Foster Wheeler’s contract was not disclosed and will be included in the company’s third-quarter 2012 bookings.

The MEG facility will be part of a new petrochemicals complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City being developed by a joint venture of Qatar Petroleum and Shell. The two-train MEG facility, based on Shell’s Omega technology, is planned to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum of MEG.

Foster Wheeler was the front-end engineering design and engineering, procurement and construction management contractor for Shell’s Omega-based MEG plant on Jurong Island in Singapore, officially opened on 11 December 2009.

“We believe our project execution performance on Shell’s MEG facility in Singapore, one of the world’s largest MEG facilities, was world class, and was a key factor in positioning us for this award,” said Umberto della Sala, president and chief operating officer, Foster Wheeler AG. “Our team for the Qatar MEG project will include key members of the team which successfully delivered the Singapore project. We will leverage our understanding of Shell’s Omega process, and our experience and lessons learned from the Singapore project, which was the largest Omega facility built to date, to deliver a high-quality basic engineering package for our client.”

Foster Wheeler AG is a global engineering and construction company and power equipment supplier. The company’s Global Engineering and Construction Group designs and constructs leading-edge processing facilities for the upstream oil and gas, LNG and gas-to-liquids, refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, power, mining and metals, environmental, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare industries. Its Global Power Group is a world leader in combustion and steam generation technology that designs, manufactures and erects steam generating and auxiliary equipment for power stations and industrial facilities and also provides a wide range of aftermarket services. The company is based in Zug, Switzerland, and its operational headquarters office is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Shell operates in 80 countries and had 90,000 staff on its rolls in 2011. As much as 48 per cent of its production was natural gas and 18.8 million tonnes of LNG was sold during the year. The company produces 3.2 million barrels of gas and oil every day and has 43,000 Shell service stations worldwide with more than 30 refineries and chemical plants. Its headquarters is in The Hague, the Netherlands. The parent company of the Shell group is Royal Dutch Shell plc, incorporated in England and Wales.