Spanish engineering firm Técnicas Reunidas has received in Peru the world’s largest refining project ever awarded to a single contractor: the modernization of the Talara refinery in the northwest region of the country.

Técnicas Reunidas will carry out the design, procurement and construction of the crude processing units at the Talara refinery. Thanks to this modernization program the plant’s processing capacity will rise from 62,000 barrels per day to 95,000.

Técnicas received the contract for this project from Peru’s state energy company Petroperú. In addition to the construction of the facility the company will also assist with its commissioning and bring it into production over a period of 55 months.

The objective is for the Talara refinery to produce diesel and gasoline in accordance with new Peruvian environmental standards. It will generate its own electricity and be equipped to desalinate and purify sea water in order to avoid having an impact on the area’s aquifers.

The contract is worth $2.7 billion (about €1.98 billion) and represents a major milestone for Spanish engineering.

Técnicas Reunidas was also the recipient in 2011 of the contract for what was until now the world’s largest such turnkey project, amounting to $2.4 billion in Turkey.