Texas Companies Get Global, Big Dollar Contracts

A Fluor-led team’s $4 billion contract leads the pack of Texas companies receiving contracts across the country and globe.

Fluor-Led Team Wins Five-Year $4 Billion Contract at Savannah River

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC, a Fluor-led team, has won a U.S. Department of Energy contract at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. The estimated $4 billion contract is for managing and operating at the site over a five-year period. Additionally, there are five, one-year renewal options bringing the potential total contract value to $8 billion.

The DOE's Savannah River Site focuses on supporting and maintaining the nuclear-weapons stockpile as well as processing and storing nuclear materials in support of U.S. nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Work performed at the site includes environmental management and the cleanup of legacy materials, facilities and wastes left over from the Cold War. The Savannah River National Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center, is also located at the site.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC was formed by Irving-based Fluor Corp. with team members from Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, Honeywell of Morristown, N.J., and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md.

CB&I Announces Refinery Expansion Project

The Woodlands-based CB&I was awarded a $285 million contract for an expansion project at an undisclosed United States refinery. CB&I's work scope includes engineering, procurement and modular fabrication of a sulfur recovery and hydrogen complex.

Funds Awarded for Texas Clean Energy Park Development

A $600,000 grant was awarded to the Texas Foundation for Innovative Communities for the development of the Texas Clean Energy Park in Austin. The park, a first of its kind in Texas, is planned as one of the most advanced clean energy business, research, education and training facilities in the nation.

Federal funds for workforce training, administered by the Texas Workforce Commission, will be used to help establish the first phase of the park.

The Texas Clean Energy Park will be a mixed-use campus designed to provide tenants, researchers, students and research institutions an opportunity to work in close proximity with one another toward a similar goal of creating innovative energy solutions. The initial phases will serve as a workforce development initiative by providing opportunities to learn skills in the field of clean-energy technology.

ENGlobal Engineering Group Awarded Refinery Work Contract

An undisclosed refiner awarded Houston-based ENGlobal's engineering group a contract to assist with the modification of a fluid catalytic cracking unit at a refinery in the Southeastern United States.

The project scope includes engineering and procurement services for both the processing unit inside the battery limits and ancillary systems outside the battery limits, which together are estimated to generate approximately 100,000 workhours over the life of the project.

The project is part of an ongoing modification program at the refinery, which is scheduled to be completed by the first quarter 2009. Both the ISBL and OSBL portions of the work will be executed concurrently and will utilize up to 90 employees in ENGlobal's Tulsa office on a time and materials basis.

KBR Awarded Contract for Pazflor FPSO Topsides in Angola

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. awarded Houston-based KBR a contract by to provide topsides engineering, procurement and interface design services for a floating production, storage and offloading vessel on the Pazflor project, operated by Total in Angola.

The award marks the 11th major FPSO design that KBR has been involved with in the past decade. Pazflor's design is a purpose-built FPSO with a topsides weight of 32,200 metric tons. Total's Angolan subsidiary, Total E&P Angola, awarded DSME the engineering, procurement and construction contract to construct the vessel's moorings, hull and topsides. It is designed with a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day of oil, 150 million cu ft per day of gas and a storage capacity of about 1.9 million barrels of crude.

Facilities are planned for a 20-year design life, and quarters are provided for 220 operation and maintenance personnel.

First oil production on Pazflor is scheduled in 2011.

Texas Cities Named to EPA's Top 25 Green Power Partners

Wind power has propelled the cities of Dallas and Houston onto the Environmental Protection Agency's national list of top green power purchasers.

Dallas took the No. 9 spot on the National Top 25 list of Green Power Partners by buying 40% of its power from wind sources. Houston grabbed the No. 12 spot by using wind power for 20% of its purchased-electricity needs.

Texas leads the nation in wind power production, according to EPA information.

EPA's Green Power Partnership works with more than 850 partner organizations to buy green power voluntarily as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use and to support the development of new, renewable generation resources nationwide.

Overall, EPA Green Power Partners are buying more than 13 billion KW-hours of green power annually. The Top 25 list represents more than 60% of the green power commitments made by all EPA Green Power Partners.

Dallas and Houston purchased more than 333 million kWh and 262 million kWh of green power respectively, earning them first-time recognition on the National Top 25 list, as well as the Top 10 Local Government list. The aggregate environmental impact of the two purchases is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 84,000 passenger vehicles annually, or the same amount of electricity needed to power an estimated 61,000 average American homes each year, according to the EPA.

The city of Austin and the Austin Independent School District were also recognized on the Top 10 Local Government list, with No. 5 and No. 7 rankings respectively.

Additionally, the EPA announced the results of its 2007 Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge, which included nine Texas-based corporate partners. Corporations such as Whole Foods Market, FedEx Kinko's, Advanced Micro Devices/Austin, Texas Facilities and Dell Inc. participated. The Fortune 500 challenge was a 13-month campaign that encouraged America's largest corporations to collectively purchase green power in excess of five billion kWh per year. Challenge participants pushed EPA to surpass its goal by more than 130%.

EPA Awards $2 Million to TCEQ

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $2 million to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to administer the state's base water quality program under their Performance Partnership Grant.

TCEQ's program aims to prevent, reduce, and eliminate water pollution through standard-setting, monitoring, permitting and enforcement activities. The funding will also assist in administering the state's environmental management programs which monitor, abate, and control hazardous and solid waste, air pollution and pesticides.

Galveston Launches Emergency Notification System

The city of Galveston has a new Emergency Notification System. The city's goal is to provide essential information quickly in a variety of situations including unexpected road or street closures or the need to evacuate buildings or neighborhoods due to situations such as hurricanes, severe weather, abnormally high tides and water-service suspensions.

Residents and business owners must register voice and text communication devices to receive messages. Messages can be sent simultaneously in voice and text formats to standard communication devices, including landline phone, cell phone and e-mail.