Privately held BUA Group, Lagos, has let a contract to OLAX Engineering Ltd. to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of subsidiary BUA Refinery’s 200,000-b/d grassroots integrated refining and petrochemical complex under development in Nigeria's state of Akwa Ibom (OGJ Online, Sept. 2, 2020).
OLAX Engineering—which already has deployed a complete project management team overseeing all contractors and licensors on the project—is already executing its PMC responsibilities for the complex’s FEED phase from its UK and Nigerian offices, the service provider said on Sept. 7.
This latest contract for the new integrated complex follows BUA’s contract award to KBR Inc. to provide FEED for the petrochemicals portion of the project (OGJ Online, May 10, 2021).
Through contractor KBR, the operator also previously awarded contracts to Lummus Novolen Technology GMBH to license its proprietary Novolen gas-phase polypropylene (PP) technology for a new 285,000-tonnes/year PP unit at the refinery, as well as deliver basic design engineering, training, services, and catalyst supply for the project, and to Axens Group for delivery of basic engineering, proprietary equipment, catalysts, adsorbents, as well as training and technical services, for the planned multibillion-dollar RFCC-based complex that—alongside propylene, an essential component for the petrochemical industry used in PP-based plastics and packaging—will produce high-quality gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel meeting Euro 5-quality specifications for the Nigerian and regional markets (OGJ Online, Apr. 29, 2021).
Sited in Akwa Ibom to take advantage of the location’s proximity to raw feedstocks and export routes to regional countries, BUA Refinery’s integrated complex will produce Euro 5-quality fuels—including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, and polypropylene—to help reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuels and petrochemicals, as well as reduce the country’s costs of shipping its domestic crude production abroad for refining by other operators.
In his most recent project update earlier this year, Abdul Samad Rabiu—BUA Group’s chairman and chief executive officer—said the Akwa Ibom refinery remains on schedule for startup in 2024.
