Unipetrol AS has let a contract to Technip SA, Paris, for work related to reconstruction of its 544,000-tonne/year (tpy) ethylene plant at its Chempark Zaluzi petrochemical complex in Litvinov, Czech Republic, following an explosion and ensuing fire that hit the site in August (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2015).
Technip will provide engineering, supply, and construction of four new cracking furnaces to replace units damaged as a result of the August incident, the service provider said.
Two of the replacement furnaces will be based on Technip’s proprietary SMK coil technology, with the remaining two to utilize its proprietary GK6 coil technology, according to Technip.
Technip, which valued the contract at €50-100 million, will execute the project from its Zoetermeer, Netherlands, office.
A timeframe for completion of the reconstruction project was not disclosed.
The Aug. 13 explosion, which occurred following a propylene leak at the plant’s steam cracker, was followed by fires in two separate parts of the unit, forcing a complete halt to petrochemical production at the complex, as well as reduced throughputs at Unipetrol subsidiary Ceska Rafinerska AS’s nearby 5.4 million-tpy Litvinov refinery, a key supplier of naphtha feedstock for the Zaluzi cracker (OGJ Online, Sept. 9, 2015; Aug. 26, 2015).
Unipetrol also recently let a €213-million contract to Technip Italy SPA to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a grassroots 270,000-tpy polyethylene (PE) production unit, PE3, at the Chempark Zaluzi petrochemical complex (OGJ Online, Sept. 10, 2015).
Designed to replace the complex’s existing 120,000-tpy PE1 unit, the two-line PE3 unit will join the remaining 200,000-tpy PE2 unit to boost Unipetrol’s overall high-density PE production at the site to 470,000 tpy from a current 320,000 tpy.
With official construction on the $355-million project scheduled to begin during second-quarter 2016 and mechanical completion due in first-quarter 2018, Unipetrol plans to commission PE3 by mid-2018.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
