Volume IX - Issue XI - November 2007
Fascinating Projects
US$5 Billion Alternative Fuels Project Moves Forward in USA AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, announced in early October that its Houston-based subsidiary AMEC Paragon has been awarded a contract by Baard Energy to provide engineering and project management services for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase of the US$5 billion Ohio River Clean Fuels project in Wellsville, Ohio. The value of the contract was not announced. The contract follows AMEC Paragon’s initial work as owner’s engineer and project management services provider for feasibility studies concerning the integration of various processes at the plant.
 (In photo: AMEC and Baard Energy representatives meet to finalize a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Ohio River Clean Fuels project. Clockwise from bottom left: Baard Energy President and CEO John Baardson, Baard Energy Business Development Vice President Steve Dopuch, AMEC Paragon President Terrance Ivers, AMEC Paragon Midstream Director Richard Rankin, and AMEC plc CEO Samir Brikho. Photo: Business Wire). The project is being undertaken in response to growing demand for more environmentally-friendly fuels. The facility is expected to produce approximately 50,000 barrels per day of jet and diesel fuel and other liquid products from biomass, coal and other feedstocks. The new facilities will capture at least 80 percent of the carbon dioxide produced during refining. Much of the captured carbon dioxide will be used for enhanced oil recovery in the nearby Appalachian oil fields, with the remainder to be stored in underground caverns. The FEED phase of the project is scheduled to commence in November 2007.  “With this project, AMEC is taking a leading role in the energy industry’s efforts to develop facilities that address global environmental concerns,” said Simon Naylor, President of AMEC’s Natural Resources Americas business. “We are excited to progress this innovative and important work and to continue to help Baard Energy achieve its goals.” Baard Energy President and Chief Executive Officer John Baardson said, “Phase I of this project went smoothly and according to schedule. We are especially impressed with AMEC’s intrinsic expertise in all of the diverse components of this project, and we view our work with AMEC Paragon as a solid model for future alternative fuel projects in the United States.” In addition to continuing in its role as owner’s engineer and project management services provider, AMEC Paragon will provide FEED for the facility’s site infrastructure, utilities, storage sections and feedstock handling. The company also will support engineering for the plant’s liquid fuel production and upgrading facilities. AMEC plc is a UK-based global supplier of high-value consultancy, engineering, and project management services to the world’s energy, power and process industries. With annual revenues of over US$4.4 billion, AMEC designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers. AMEC's Natural Resources, Power and Process and Earth and Environmental businesses employ approximately 18,000 people in more than 25 countries globally. AMEC shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, where the company is listed in the Support Services Sector. www.amec.com . AMEC Paragon is AMEC’s hub for oil and gas production, midstream/gas processing, and pipeline operations based in Houston, Texas, providing engineering, design/drafting, mapping, materials management, and construction management services. Specialties include onshore and offshore production facilities, onshore and offshore pipelines, floating production and subsea systems, LPG and LNG facilities, alternative fuels facilities, stranded gas applications and heavy oil treatment facilities. AMEC Paragon has completed more than 4,000 projects in 30 countries for over 260 clients. www.amecparagon.com.
 Baard Energy L.L.C. is a privately held limited liability company, headquartered in Vancouver, WA, that develops alternative energy projects in North America. The company has more than 20 years of experience in the alternative energy and fuels businesses. Within that period, Baard and its affiliates have developed a variety of energy projects, including ethanol production and power generation from biomass and natural gas. www.baardenergy.com.
Commander Pam Melroy heads for the International Space Station where Commander Peggy Whitson is in Charge
 The space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew lifted off Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:38 a.m. EDT (16:38 GMT) and headed for the International Space Station. During the 14-day mission, designated STS-120, Discovery's crew will continue construction of the space station with the installation of the Harmony connecting module, also known as Node 2. The crew, led by Commander Pam Melroy, will conduct five spacewalks during the mission, four by shuttle crew members and one by the station's Expedition 16 crew. Discovery is scheduled to dock to the station on Thursday, Oct. 25. The addition of the Harmony module sets the stage for the arrival of new research laboratories from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in upcoming shuttle missions. During the mission, the STS-120 crew also will move the station's Port 6 segment of the station's backbone, or truss, and its solar arrays to a permanent position at the end of the truss' left side.  Joining Melroy on the STS-120 crew are Pilot George Zamka, mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Doug Wheelock, Stephanie Wilson, Daniel Tani and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli. Tani will serve as mission specialist aboard Discovery and join the Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, who arrived at the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Oct. 12. Tani will rotate positions with station resident Clayton Anderson. After five months on the station, Anderson will return with Discovery's crew at the conclusion of the STS-120 mission.
 The Discovery Flight and its rendevous with the Space Station will represent a major milestone for NASA. Pamela Melroy and Peggy Whitson are the first female NASA astronauts to lead missions at the same time. Commander Whitson, who is already aboard the Space Station, is the first female to lead a long-duration spaceflight. This is the third shuttle flight for Melroy. The space shuttle is one of the most complex machines ever built. The shuttle’s capacity enables humans today to build the world’s largest orbiting laboratory, paving the way back to the moon, on to Mars and further into the universe. This is the 120th space shuttle flight, the 34th flight for Discovery and the 23rd U.S. flight to the International Space Station. For more information about the STS-120 mission, including images and interviews with the crew, visit: www.nasa.gov/shuttle..  Created in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America’s focal point for research, development and exploration of outer space. In 2005, the US President and Congress committed the United States to exploring the solar system and beyond: completing assembly of the International Space Station, flying the new Crew Exploration Vehicle no later than 2014, returning astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade, and sending human missions to Mars and beyond. For nearly 50 years, NASA has been leading the world in the development and usage of advanced program and project management. Additional information about NASA can be found at www.nasa.gov.
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