ExxonMobil, best known for the brand name Esso, is starting the construction in the port of Antwerp of a new coker unit the size of as many as five football fields. Franki Construct has been awarded two different contracts worth two and three million euros, respectively. The total investment by ExxonMobil amounts to 800 million euros and will create 70 permanent jobs in the long term.

The construction of this new coker unit is certainly no practice run for Franki Construct. The company previously built the High Pressure Hydro Treater (a desulphurization plant that desulphurizes diesel under high pressure using hydrogen (photo)) for Esso in the port of Antwerp. The contract price at the time was 13 million euros. A few years on, ExxonMobil is investing a total of nearly 800 million euros in the biggest and final phase of the renovation of the Antwerp refinery.

The Delayed Coker Unit will convert heavy fuel oil into environmentally-friendly diesel for ships, cars and trucks. Previously, those heavy oil fractions – which contained a lot of sulphur – were used as marine fuels, but this is no longer possible due to the more stringent environmental rules. The construction of the coker unit will take three years and, during that time, it will provide work for 700 to 1,200 construction workers and specialists. The plant will create 70 new jobs, on top of the 1,000 jobs in the Antwerp refinery.