Fluor Grabs $150 Million Contract

Fluor Corporation (FLR - Analyst Report) announced yesterday that it received a $150 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from ISAB Energy to rebuild a gas turbine power train.

The contract is to rebuild one of the two 266-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine power trains in Sicily, Italy. The power train, which is a part of a 532-megawatt power plant that provides electric power to the Italian grid, was damaged in an accident in October 2008.

The company is working with ISAB Energy to rebuild the facility and bring its power plant back to full capacity by the end of the second quarter of 2010. The total installed cost for the project managed by Fluor is more than $150 million.

The project was booked into the company’s second quarter 2009 backlog.

During its second quarter conference call, Fluor stated that its backlog at the end of the second quarter was $30.9 billion, down 6% year over year, but up 6% sequentially. New project awards for the quarter amounted to $6.8 billion, compared to $6.4 billion last year. The second quarter backlog also includes a large mining project in its Industrial & Infrastructure segment.

Further, at the start of the third quarter, Fluor’s Government segment won LOGCAP IV for northern Afghanistan. The total contract value is potentially more than $7 billion over five years. Also, the company won an engineering services contract to design a concentrating solar power plant for eSolar, Inc. The company did not disclose the contract value for this project.

Given its year-to-date performance and strong backlog, the company is confident of achieving earnings in the range of $3.80 to $4.10 per share for 2009.

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