UK’s Wood Group to Design the World’s Largest Single Site Refinery

UK’s Wood Group, the engineering, project and technical services company mainly operating in energy and industrial markets, has received an $8 million contract for the pre-front-end engineering and design of a new refinery in Ruwais, a western region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Wood representatives described the project as the world’s largest integrated and petrochemicals complex as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) plans to produce 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

This news comes as investing giants BlackRock and KKR on Sunday signed a $4 billion agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to become the first institutional investors joining forces with a national oil producer in the Middle East.

The contract requires Wood to work with ADNOC to map out the refinery’s front end engineering (FEED), construction and procurement phases, and provide cost estimation and licensing selection services. Wood’s pre-FEED package, based on the company’s proven design, should be complete by the end of 2019.

Jasem Ali Al Sayegh, CEO of ADNOC Refining, said, “Today marks a significant step towards fulfilling ADNOC’s strategy of developing the largest integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in the world. We are delighted to partner with Wood and to have their global expertise available to us. This a major milestone in the future growth plans of ADNOC Refining.” ADNOC Refining operates the world’s fourth-largest single site refinery, located 149 miles west of Abu Dhabi city and connected to a 1,180 miles pipeline network, supplying refined oil to ports across the emirate to export globally.

Wood’s CEO of Specialist Technical Solutions business, Bob MacDonald, said, “We are pleased to continue our relationship with ADNOC Refining. This pre-Feed award allows us to partner with ADNOC in developing a world-scale state-of-the-art facility – a major flagship development for the UAE. This contract also enables us to expand our footprint in the Middle East and supports our commitment to developing and enhancing local engineering capabilities in Abu Dhabi.”