Foster Wheeler AG, a global engineering and construction contractor and power equipment supplier has announced that Foster Wheeler USA Corporation, part of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has been awarded a project management consultancy (PMC) contract by Carbon Holdings for a petrochemical complex in Ain Sokhna, Egypt with a nameplate capacity to produce 1.35 million tons per annum of polyethylene. The terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Saudi Petrochemical producers Sahara Petrochemical Co., National Industrialization Co., Acrylic Monomers Co. and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co. have signed agreements to start engineering, procurement, and early construction works at their US$1.07bn acrylic acid project.

Persistent volatility in demand, fluctuating construction costs and some other factors are obstructing refining projects in the Arab region despite their importance in economic diversification, according to an official study.

The UAE and four other Arab oil producers are planning to pump nearly US$470 billion into projects to expand their hydrocarbon output capacity to meet domestic and external demand, their oil group said recently.

Two state-owned Chinese oil companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Egypt about investing US$2 billion in the construction of a 300,000-b/d refinery in the country, Reuters reported recently. Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. and CNPC would develop the refinery under a 25-year build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) contract, eyeing a possible doubling of the plant's capacity after the first phase has come onstream.