Energy-industrial contractor CB&I had a good month of July on the heels of several large EPC contracts, particularly a $2.3-billion joint-venture award for a mechanical, electrical and instrumentation contract on the estimated $19-billion Gorgon liquified-natural-gas, or LNG project in Australia.

Awarded to the joint venture of Netherlands-based CB&I and Australia-based Kentz, the work includes gas processing, compression and associated utilities, CB&I says. Set to finish in 2015, the project, a development of several international energy companies, could produce 15 million tons of gas a year. CB&I has a 65% stake in the JV. “This will be the largest LNG export facility CB&I has built to date as an EPC,” says Avram Fisher, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, New York City.

On July 21, the firm announced a $500-million contract for two storage tanks for another Australian LNG project. Further, it reported second-quarter revenue of $1 billion; the previous quarter, the firm secured about $1.2 billion in new awards. Analysts say its backlog now is a record $10 billion. “This reflects … the growing momentum in our end markets,” said Philip K. Asherman, CB&I's CEO.

Fluor Corp. appears to be the lead contender on an EPC contract for utilities and off-site work at the $15-billion, Saudio Arabia-based Jubail petrochemicals complex, now being built by Dow Chemicals and Saudi Aramco, according to a Middle East online publication. The contract could be worth at least $1.5 billion. A Fluor spokesman declined to comment.

In other news, analysts reacted positively when energy contractor Foster Wheeler Corp. named Kent Masters, a former CEO of The Linde Group, as its permanent CEO. Umberto Della Salla, who was interim CEO and thought to be a candidate for permanent CEO, remains president and COO.