Fluor Subsidiary Gets $121-Million Federal Contract

Fluor Corp.’s subsidiary that specializes in government work has won the largest contract in its seven-year history, the Irvine-based engineering and construction giant said Thursday.

FD Services Inc. was awarded a five-year, $121-million contract by the U.S. Department of Energy. The company will operate federally owned oil fields and oil shale properties in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

The four sites were set aside by the government in 1915 to supply fuel to the military. FD Services will provide maintenance and engineering at the properties.

One of the fields, the 9,500-acre Teapot Dome Naval Petroleum Reserve near Casper, Wyo., is already producing oil. FD Services will conduct exploratory drilling at sites in Garfield County, Colo., and Carbon and Uintah counties in Utah.

Created in 1986, the company focuses on maintenance and other services at Army and Navy bases. Its latest contract is a big boost to Fluor’s backlog of unfinished projects. Fluor reported a $2-billion backlog at the close of its second fiscal quarter April 30.

“Fluor Corp. has continued to increase its volume of government work in recent years, and this is another indication of that strategy,” said Thomas O. Lloyd-Butler, an analyst with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco.

In Thursday’s trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Fluor closed at $38.75 a share, down 50 cents.