Egypt's OCI wins Algeria construction contracts

Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) said on Tuesday it secured two contracts for the civil works and piling installation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) train project in Algeria.

• The contracts were awarded by U.S. engineering and construction company Kellogg, Brown and Root International Inc. (KBR) to a joint venture owned by OCI and Italy’s Trevi SpA, Orascom said in a statement.
• The contracts are among the first of a $3 billion LNG programme in the Algerian province of Skikda, it added.
• Company executives declined to disclose the value of the two contracts or how much OCI owns in the joint venture.
• The project is being developed by the Algerian state-owned company Sonatrach and OCI expects the piling and installation works to end in 10 months.
• OCI, Egypt’s largest listed construction company, reported a 224 percent rise in consolidated net income to $454.4 million in the first quarter of 2008 as its consolidated backlog reached a record of $6.8 billion by the end of March.
• Shares in the company were 0.2 percent lower at 379 Egyptian pounds by 0841 GMT.