HOUSTON, April 25, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Pioneer Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq:PONR) today announced that it has entered into two contracts for the previously announced expansion of its chlor-alkali facility in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. The first contract is an Engineering and Procurement Agreement with BE&K Engineering Company, located in Birmingham, Alabama, providing for the engineering design of the project and the procurement of equipment and related instrumentation. The second contract is a Construction Contract with Shaw Constructors, Inc., a subsidiary of The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SGR), under which Shaw will provide overall construction management and site construction work for the project. As previously announced, Pioneer will be expanding the capacity of its St. Gabriel plant by approximately 25% and converting to membrane cell technology from the existing mercury cell technology. The project is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Gary L. Sulik, Pioneer's Vice President, Manufacturing, commented: "We are very pleased to be partnering with two such highly experienced companies for this very important project for Pioneer's future. BE&K Engineering has tremendous depth of experience in designing and engineering chlor-alkali plants, which has already proven to be very helpful in getting this project up and running on a timely basis. BE&K had earlier developed the feasibility study while we were evaluating this project, so they are already very familiar with the project. Shaw Constructors is a highly regarded construction firm which has been very active in the reconstruction of the Louisiana Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Shaw also has deep experience constructing chlor-alkali and other plants in Louisiana, and has a highly-skilled workforce in the Baton Rouge area that it can use for our project. We feel very comfortable that BE&K and Shaw will be excellent partners who will help us achieve our goals of completing this critical project for Pioneer on time and within budget."
Pioneer, based in Houston, manufactures chlorine, caustic soda, bleach, hydrochloric acid and related products used in a variety of applications, including water treatment, plastics, pulp and paper, detergents, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical disinfectants. Pioneer owns and operates four chlor-alkali plants and several downstream manufacturing facilities in North America.
BE&K, Inc., founded in 1972 and based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a major provider of construction and engineering services, as well as design and maintenance, for the chemical, pulp and paper, power and heavy industrial construction industries. BE&K, Inc. currently ranks #48 on Engineering News-Record's (ENR) prestigious list of Top 400 Contractors, is one of the Southeast's largest employee-owned and privately held companies, and is on Forbes listing of the "Top 400 Privately Held Companies in the U.S."
The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of technology, engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, fabrication, manufacturing, consulting, remediation, and facilities management services for government and private sector clients in the energy, chemical, environmental, infrastructure, and emergency response markets. A Fortune 500 company with nearly $5 billion in annual revenues, Shaw is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and employs approximately 21,000 people at its offices and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Certain statements in this news release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Forward-looking statements relate to matters that are not historical facts and include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected additional production capacity of the St. Gabriel plant, completion dates of the project, and anticipated benefits of the project. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, increases in costs and delays in the completion of the St. Gabriel project, risks relating to the additional debt financing that the Company has incurred to pay for the project, the cyclical nature of the demand and prices for the Company's products, the availability and costs of the raw materials used to make the company's alkali products, the company's access to and the cost of rail transportation, environmental risks, governmental regulation, and the ability of the company to meet its business and financial goals and the risks and uncertainties described in Pioneer's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements.