THE MIDEAST CRISIS: ASSESSING THE DAMAGE : Fluor, Parsons Watching Saudi Situation

Several U.S. companies with a presence in Saudi Arabia reported Tuesday that they were staying in close touch with the State Department and had not yet decided to evacuate their employees after American troops were ordered into the Middle Eastern kingdom.

Fluor Corp., a construction and engineering firm based in Irvine, has no immediate plans to curtail operations or evacuate its 100 employees from Saudi Arabia, said spokesman Rick Maslin. But Tuesday it began transporting about two dozen dependents of workers out of the country.

“We’re in close contact with the State Department and our employees and we have contingency plans to remove personnel if that becomes necessary,” Maslin said.

He said many dependents had already opted to leave the country to avoid the desert country’s searing summer. Thus, only about a fourth of the usual number of dependents were still in the country at the time of President Bush’s decision to send in troops, he said.

Fluor employees were working on a number of oil- and gas-related projects, but none were near the Saudi border with Iraq. Fluor has maintained a business relationship with Saudi Arabia since the 1970s and at one time was involved with more than $10 billion in contracts there, including the construction of the state university and other non-oil work.

Although Fluor won an estimated $6-billion contract in June to build more oil and gas production facilities in Saudi Arabia, Maslin said the project has barely begun and there was no indication that the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait would affect that operation. Under the contract, Fluor will refurbish Saudi Aramco’s mothballed northern onshore and offshore oil and gas plants and to act as overall program manager for the expansion of oil and gas facilities.

Another large Southern California firm, Parsons Corp., also said it has made no move to evacuate its 200 employees in Saudi Arabia. The Pasadena-based engineering and construction company is building an industrial city in Yanbu on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. It is also doing construction related to oil and gas exploration in Al Khobar.

Parsons also has about 100 employees in Kuwait--including 20 U.S. citizens, said spokeswoman Deborah Williams. She said the company has been unable to contact any employees in Kuwait since Thursday morning, when all employees were safe and accounted for.

“So far, the State Department has not advised us to move our people out (of Saudi Arabia),” she said on Tuesday afternoon.

In Kuwait, the company has been doing business for 30 years and was building a 200-mile highway system, a waste water treatment plant and a power plant.