12-03-2012

Shaw awarded contract for deep catalytic cracking technology for refinery upgrade in Thailand

The Shaw Group Inc today announced it has been awarded contracts to provide a process design package and technology license for the addition of a 30,000 barrels per day deep catalytic cracking (DCC) unit to IRPC’s 215,000 barrels per day refinery in Rayong, Thailand. The upgrade project will maximize the production of polymer-grade propylene and recovery of polymer-grade ethylene to be used as feedstock for petrochemical derivative units at the same site.

Shaw also will function as the superlicensor for four additional supporting technologies provided by Axens. As superlicensor, Shaw has single point responsibility for execution and performance guarantees for these technologies.

“As superlicensor, Shaw will optimize the integration of these technologies and maximize the production of propylene and other products for our client,” said James Glass, president of Shaw’s Energy & Chemicals Group. “This solution will enable IRPC to move to the next level of heavy oil cracking and propylene production.”

Shaw is the exclusive licensed provider of DCC technology outside of China, and together with the technology’s developer, SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing in the People’s Republic of China, has licensed a total of 16 DCC units. The first DCC complex designed and engineered by Shaw was successfully commissioned in 1997 at this same site in Thailand, for Thai Petrochemical Industries, the previous name of IRPC.

Shaw also provided its technology for the world’s largest DCC unit (producing in excess of 900,000 tons per year of propylene) for a grassroots high olefins fluid catalytic cracking project in the Middle East.

The undisclosed value of the process design package contract was included in Shaw’s Energy & Chemical’s segment’s backlog of unfilled orders in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011. The undisclosed value of the technology license contract will be included in backlog in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.

For more information, please visit www.shawgrp.com.