Orascom Construction,  a leading global engineering and construction contractor primarily focused on infrastructure, industrial and high-end commercial projects in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, has signed up Aconex to manage project information and processes for a top greenfield methanol production complex in Texas, US.

Aconex is a key provider of global platform connecting teams on construction and engineering projects.

The resulting facility, to be operated by Natgasoline, will produce up to 1.75 million metric tons of methanol per year, making it one of the world's largest merchant methanol production facilities based on nameplate capacity.

Large-scale oil and gas projects such as the Natgasoline methanol plant require advanced chemical processes and technical equipment, sophisticated engineering, and a large team of designers, suppliers and subcontractors across various disciplines said a statement from Orascom Construction.

To deliver the project on schedule, all participants must communicate and exchange project-related information efficiently, it stated.

"Early in the design phase, we realized that for a project of this size and complexity, we needed an information management and collaboration system," remarked Ali Riche, project director at Orascom Construction.

"We researched the market and concluded that Aconex was the best fit for our needs," he added.

Orascom Construction's global project team consists of a principal engineering contractor in Europe and major suppliers in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Aconex provides team members with immediate access to project information and correspondence, as well as current and prior versions of documents stored securely in the cloud.

Early in the construction phase of the Natgasoline project, more than 100 users from over 30 different organizations involved with the project had been registered on the platform.

The greatest challenge on a project of this scope is managing the flow of information. Thousands of documents and communications - such as engineering drawings, purchase orders and requests for information (RFIs) - must be submitted, reviewed and approved within a prescribed time frame.

The Orascom project team is currently processing more than a hundred document transmittals daily, and relies on Aconex to effectively monitor and report on the status of all documents.

"Anybody can see immediately which RFIs have been reviewed and which are still open," explained Omar El Bassiouny, the business development manager at Orascom Construction.

"While that could be done manually through emails, logs and spreadsheets, Aconex provides a level of visibility a nd control beyond an electronic document management system (EDMS)," he added.

Since Aconex provides permanent storage of all versions of all documents and a complete audit trail of decisions and actions, the project team can easily track changes and determine when they occurred, who made them and who approved them. Searches of project details are fast and easy with metadata, said Orascom Construction in its statement.

To keep the project moving around individual schedules, team members use Aconex Mobile construction apps to access, share, review, and update project information in real time from their tablets or smartphones on the job site or anywhere else, it added.

"The Natgasoline methanol production complex is one of the most highly visible projects cu rrently under construction in the southeast region of Texas," said Frank Kopas, general manager of the Americas at Aconex.

"The project represents another significant win for us in the U.S. oil and gas sector, notably the downstream petrochemical segment. We're pleased with the opportunity to help Orascom deliver a very complex development on time and on budget," he added.-TradeArabia News Service