Foster Wheeler, Sofcon win Aramco FEED contract JEDDAH - Foster Wheeler and Sofcon have been awarded the pre-front end engineering and design (FEED) study for the first phase of a program to develop gas supplies from the Shaybah field in the Rub Al-Khali. The joint venture program between the two companies has been awarded by Saudi Aramco. The field has already had a $3 billion expansion to increase its capacity by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 750,000. The development includes construction of a plant with six trains to liquefy the natural gas over a period from 2014 and 2033. - SG Almarai Q2 profit up 22% RIYADH - Saudi-based Almarai Co, the largest dairy company in the Gulf region by market value, posted a 22.1 percent rise in second-quarter net profit. The company made a net profit of 287.1 million Saudi riyals ($76.56 million) in the three months to June 30, 2009 up from 235.2 million riyals in the year-earlier period, Almarai said in a statement on the bourse website. Earnings per share was SR4.44 in the first six months after SR3.65, it added. Savola Group holds a near 28 percent stake in Almarai. - Reuters Cristal raises TiO2 price JEDDAH - Cristal Global (Cristal) announced recently that it will increase prices on all of its anatase and rutile Tiona and Cristal titanium dioxide (TiO2) products sold in North America and Brazil. In North America, effective Aug. 1, 2009, or as permitted by contract, prices for all Tiona and Cristal titanium dioxide (TiO2) products will increase by US three (3) cents per pound. This increase is in addition to the previous announcement of a two cents per pound increase for the same date In Brazil, effective Aug.1, 2009, or as permitted by contract, prices for all Tiona and Cristal titanium dioxide (TiO2) products will increase up to $150 per metric ton. This is in addition to the previous announcement of $100 per metric ton announced for July 1. “After a brief period of improved profitability last year, margins have returned to very low levels at a time when demand is improving and some modest investment is needed to return assets to full capability,” said John Hall, vice president -Commercial. Cristal Global is the world's second-largest producer of titanium dioxide and a leading producer of titanium chemicals. Cristal Global operates eight manufacturing plants in six countries on five continents and employs nearly 4,000 people worldwide. - SG/Agencies Rotary bags $745m Saudi deal SINGAPORE - Singapore's Rotary Engineering said on Thursday it had won a $745 million engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a refinery tank farm in Saudi Arabia. The deal was awarded by a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) and Total SA. - Reuters Total tapped for $10b oil refinery JEDDAH - Saudi Arabia plans to invest nearly $10 billion to construct an oil refinery. Officials said Saudi Aramco and France's Total have agreed to construct an oil refinery in Jubail by 2014. They said the two companies have established a joint venture, which selected France's Technip and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas as leading subcontractors. “The target has been achieved, whereby the overall project cost now stands at $9.6 billion,” Satorp, the joint venture, said. Jubail was designed to process 400,000 barrels of oil per day in a project that had been estimated at $12 billion in 2008. Under the contract, Tecnicas would construct crude and hydrotreating units in an estimated $1 billion subcontract. Satorp said France's Technip has been awarded deals for refining unit work and utilities. – Agencies Infinite Debit Card unveiled RIYADH – Alinma Bank has launched an infinite debit card, branded as “Alinma Infinite” from Visa, a global retail electronic payments network, in Saudi Arabia. However, this card is offered by invitation only. The bank states that the Alinma Infinite is a debit card includes multilingual 24x7 support in 9 spoken languages.
