RIYADH, 25 August 2006 — India’s largest engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro along with its consortium partner, Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe AS, has won a SR412 million contract from Saudi Formaldehyde Chemical Company Ltd., (SFCCL) for setting up high-tech methanol and carbon monoxide plants. This was disclosed by D.S. Shevede, L&T chief for international business development, in an interview yesterday.
“Under the secured order, to be executed on E&P (Engineering and Procurement) basis, L&T would carry out engineering works and procure equipment and materials for the plant as well,” said Shevede via telephone from Bombay. The SFCCL, which manufactures formaldehyde and its derivatives, is undertaking backward integration by installing 700 tons per day of methanol and 100 TPD of carbon monoxide plant.
The Jubail-based SFCCL is a private sector enterprise, developed, promoted and financed by a group of leading industrialists from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. It is a grass-roots, second-generation petrochemical complex. An L&T statement said that the company would manufacture some critical equipment at its Powai and Hazira works and along with its consortium partner provide technical services for setting up and commissioning the plant.
“The company and Haldor Topsoe have a long association, having worked on many domestic and international hydrogen, ammonia and reformer projects,” said the L&T official, while referring to the frequent visits of L&T’s senior executives to the Gulf region including Saudi Arabia with an objective to seek more involvement in different projects across the region. A.M. Naik, L&T’s chairman and managing director, was in Riyadh recently on a business mission.
Besides Naik, K. Venkataramanan, L&T’s board member & president (operations), K.V. Rangaswami, director & senior vice president, and Vivek B. Gadgil, executive vice president (International-Gulf), have been visiting Saudi Arabia and GCC from time to time. “These visits of senior executives indicate that India’s largest engineering and construction company is now more focused on the job orders from the Gulf states, especially from Saudi Arabia,” said the statement.
L&T is currently executing a 200-bed hospital project, a cement plant and a school project also. The company’s local joint venture, L&T Saudi Arabia LLC, has an impressive track record in the infrastructure and energy sectors. It has also recently commissioned a gas insulated switchgear substation for Saudi Aramco, while Larsen’s engineering arm set a record by manufacturing a 104-meter long product splitter in a single piece along with eight catofin reactors.
The company is also involved in a major $1.5 billion aluminum plant to be built in India with the UAE besides being involved in several projects across the Gulf, which is a testimony to its world-class capacity and experience.
The company has won a handful of engineering orders in this region from Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd., (GASCO), Qatar Petroleum, Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and the Bunduq Oil Company in Abu Dhabi. The firm is also making bids for many engineering projects in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman.