Foster Wheeler Ltd. says that its subsidiaries, Foster Wheeler Energy Limited and Foster Wheeler International Engineering & Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., together with its consortium partner, Wuhuan Engineering Company, have been awarded contracts by Sasol Synfuels International (Proprietary) Limited (Sasol) and Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Company Ltd. (Shenhua) to perform a feasibility study for an 80,000 barrels per day coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the coal-rich western part of the People's Republic of China.

The Foster Wheeler contract value was not disclosed, and will be included in the company's fourth-quarter 2008 bookings.

Foster Wheeler will develop the technical definition, engineering, procurement and construction strategy and cost estimate and will provide input to the project's financial evaluation to support project approval by the Chinese government.

The planned facility will convert coal into selected fuel products such as diesel, naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas by combining three principal processes: gasification of coal to synthesis gas, the conversion of synthesis gas into liquid fuels using Sasol's low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch technology, and hydrocracking the converted products into valuable fuel products.

"Foster Wheeler is delighted to be selected by Sasol and Shenhua, together with our Chinese partner, to assist in the next stage of the development of this planned world-scale CTL plant in China, having been involved in the initial stage of the feasibility study three years ago," said Michael J Beaumont, chairman and chief executive officer of Foster Wheeler Energy Limited. "We have established an excellent and long-standing working relationship with Sasol in the engineering and optimization of Sasol's gas-to-liquids and coal-to-liquids technologies. This award reflects our clients' confidence in the creativity and specialist technical expertise of our Business Solutions Group, which focuses on adding value at the early development stages of projects, and in our long and successful track record in China."

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