Shale Gas is Still Number 1 For Megaplant–Projects

Related Vendors

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

EDL Anlagenbau Gesellschaft mbH

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

ThyssenKrupp AG

ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH

No End in Sight to Shale Gas

The Process Technologies unit which emerged from Uhde has high hopes for the American shale gas bonanza that has already triggered a wave of fertilizer plant construction projects. Process Technologies has acquired three fertilizer projects. Ramsis Shehata, CEO of the American regional cluster, believes that downstream projects will create additional opportunities as the industry continues to expand cracker capacity in North America.

Construction of a propane dehydrogenation plant which uses the STAR (Steam Active Reforming) process developed by Uhde is currently underway at the Point Comfort petrochemical complex in Texas. Process Technologies has granted the license and is providing the basic engineering as well as the detail engineering for the key equipment. It is also supplying the catalytic converter and providing project execution support. The contracts were awarded by Formosa Plastics Corporation.

Regional Clustering – A Model for EPC

In the future, the regional cluster model will guarantee that the business units act in a coordinated fashion, for example at the two fertilizer complexes in Iowa. Taking North America as an example, the Calgary, Denver and Mexico City sites operated independently of each other in the past because organizationally they were part of Uhde, Polysius and Fördertechnik.

Today, the roughly 1,000 employees are organized into a large network which spans functional boundaries. They are able to react quickly when new work comes in as was the case recently in Iowa. 75% of the employees can be given assignments which cut across organizational lines.

The Biggest Risk for Shale Related Projects

The mode of operation is also expected to enhance project execution performance. The goal is to be able to handle projects which exceed the one billion euro threshold. The three CEOs say that the construction phase represents the biggest risk. Every EPC project must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as construction in North America is considerably more expensive and carries greater risks than in the Arab countries.

Shale Gas

The New Gold Rush: Benefits and Risks of the US Shale Gas Boom?

In general, the regional organizations will play a bigger role in the future. In-depth knowledge of the local region is essential to achieve anything of significance in most countries. Atzpodien summed up the general strategy as follows: “We want to get closer to the customer.”

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