Fluor completes construction of Dow Chemical’s ethylene production facility
IRVING, Texas – Fluor Corporation announced that it has safely finished the mechanical construction of The Dow Chemical Company’s new ethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas on schedule.
Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction services on the 1.5-MMtpy light-hydrocarbon cracker, which can use both ethane and propane as feedstock. The ethylene produced by the facility will be used as a building block for many of Dow’s industry leading performance plastics products.
After receiving the contract award in 2013, construction began in 2014, with more than 3,000 Fluor craft employees and subcontractors onsite at peak to deliver the project on schedule. The project also achieved more than 5 MM consecutive work hours without a lost-time incident.
In support of craft workforce development, Fluor partnered with area community colleges and high schools to encourage pursuit of construction careers and performed more than 2,300 craft performance assessments and evaluations throughout the project.
“This project was successful because of the strong partnership and collaboration between Dow and Fluor,” said Mark Fields, president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals business in the Americas. “The joint team focused on continuous improvement throughout the project achieving world-class productivity and welding quality. The project was completed safely and on schedule. We are proud to complete this important project with Dow to enable them to take advantage of the area’s shale gas resources and grow their key downstream businesses.”
In addition to the ethane cracker, Fluor was also responsible for a 750,000-tpy propane dehydrogenation unit, which was completed in 2015. Dow’s Freeport, Texas complex is the largest integrated chemical manufacturing complex in the Western hemisphere.
Fluor is an industry leader in the engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction and maintenance of petrochemical facilities globally. Including the Dow ethylene production facility, Fluor is supporting the construction of three ethane crackers on the U.S. Gulf Coast that will produce 4.5 MMt of ethylene annually.
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