Technip wins Hovensa FCC contract

French engineering company Technip has won a contract to supply the 495,000 barrel-a-day Hovensa refinery in the US Virgin Islands with a 50,000b/d hydrotreating unit to manufacture low-sulfur gasoline, Technip said in a statement, without stating the contract's value. The Citgo subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and US oil company Amerada Hess own Hovensa. The unit, a low-sulfur FCC (fluid catalytic cracker) gasoline hydrotreater, is based on ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company's SCANfiningTM process technology. Gasoline produced will comply with new fuel standards in the US. The project includes front-end and detail engineering, the procurement and supply of equipment and materials, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning and assistance to start up, and is scheduled for completion in November 2006. Technip recently completed the modernization of the Isla refinery in Curaçao for PDVSA.