Fluor Eyes CCS, Critical Mineral Markets as Backlog Grows

SUGAR LAND, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Researched by Industrial Info Resources — Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) has been listening to the world’s energy developers and is responding with a slew of projects geared to the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and “critical minerals,” which are among the fastest-growing markets in the global energy transition. Its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work in the U.S. alone shows where it is turning its attention. Industrial Info is tracking more than $25.5 billion worth of active and proposed projects across the U.S. involving Fluor’s services, including more than $11.5 billion worth that are under construction.

One of Fluor’s fastest-growing businesses is its Production & Fuels Energy Solutions segment, which offers EPC solutions for developers adopting CCS technology. CarbonCapture Incorporated (Los Angeles, California) is seeking permits for its proposed Project Bison Direct Air Capture and Carbon Sequestration Project near Wamsutter, Wyoming, which is designed to capture 12,000 tons of carbon from the air and sequester it more than 1 kilometer underground. Subscribers to Industrial Info’s Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project Database can learn more from a detailed project report.

In a quarterly earnings-related conference call last week, David Constable, the chief executive officer of Fluor, credited last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with much of the growth in CCS projects serviced by Fluor: “Just to give you an example of the IRA and the carbon credits that flow through [it], we’re seeing significant activity in our Production & Fuels Energy Solutions business line. I think we’ve got 30 projects on the go, or at some mostly front-end work, and a few moving further on into EPC.”

Minnkota Power Cooperative (Grand Forks, North Dakota) is seeking permits for its proposed Project Tundra at the Milton R. Young Power Station in Center, North Dakota. Using Fluor’s technology, Minnkota plans to retrofit its 430-megawatt (MW) Unit 2 to capture up to 90% of its CO2 emissions. The unit is a cyclone-fired wet bottom boiler from Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE:BW) (Akron, Ohio). Subscribers can learn more from Industrial Info’s detailed project report.

Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated (NYSE:FCX) (Phoenix, Arizona) is employing Fluor for a major expansion at its Lone Star Mine in Safford, Arizona, which is expected to wrap up toward the end of the year. Freeport-McMoRan is expanding Lone Star’s crushing facility and handling-and-stacking system for copper oxide ore, to increase its feed rate from 95,000 to as much as 120,000 tons per day. The mining giant believes this will increase Lone Star’s overall production capacity for copper from 250 million to as much as 300 million pounds per year. Subscribers can learn more from Industrial Info’s detailed project report.

Copper is one of the most in-demand commodities worldwide, given its role as a critical mineral in battery and power-generation technology. Freeport-McMoRan is looking to Fluor to provide design-engineering services for another copper-development project: its proposed expansion of its copper-molybdenum mine and processing plant in Bagdad, Arizona. The project, which is in its early design phase, would nearly double production to as much as 400 million pounds per year of copper and 22 million pounds per year of molybdenum, and add 64 million pounds per year of copper-cathode production. Subscribers can learn more from Industrial Info’s detailed project report.

Constable said in the earnings call that Fluor is working on several front-end studies supporting the advancement of critical minerals production, especially copper and lithium developments, in North America and Europe. He identified the development of copper, lithium and potash as a “strategic growth market” for the company.

One of the largest–and most closely watched–critical-mineral developments in the U.S. is Albemarle Corporation‘s (NYSE:ALB) (Charlotte, North Carolina) lithium mine in Silverpeak, Nevada, which has been undergoing an expansion since second-quarter 2022 to nearly double its production of lithium carbonate to about 10,000 tons per year, as well as debottleneck and optimize existing systems. Fluor is providing EPC services for the expansion and the rehabilitation of 35 evaporation ponds at the complex. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the mine expansion and pond overhauls.

Global revenues for Fluor stood at $3.94 billion for the second quarter, compared with $3.3 billion in second-quarter 2022. Net income of $61 million was 7.6% lower than the same period last year, which Fluor executives attributed largely to foreign currency effects.

Fluor’s new awards for global projects in the second quarter totaled $3.7 billion, compared with $3.6 billion in the same period last year. Ending consolidated backlog was reported to be $25.5 billion, compared with $19.5 billion at the end of second-quarter 2022.

Subscribers to Industrial Info’s GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a list of detailed reports for active projects involving Fluor’s services.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR’s Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).

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