HOUSTON, Sept. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Frontieras North America ("Frontieras" or the "Company"), an energy technology company commercializing its proprietary FASForm™ Solid Carbon Fractionation technology, today announced that it has selected Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, to perform Front-End Engineering and Design ("FEED") for its flagship facility in Mason County, West Virginia. FEED work has begun, marking the next phase of project development.
Under the agreement, Kiewit will perform front-end engineering and design for the Mason County facility.
“Kiewit is pleased to work with Frontieras as it advances the Mason County facility,” said Eric Gutiérrez, executive vice president, Kiewit Engineering Group Inc. “Our team looks forward to bringing an integrated engineering and constructability perspective to the FEED phase, working collaboratively with Frontieras to develop a design informed by how the facility can be safely and efficiently constructed.”
The Mason County facility is Frontieras’ flagship project and is currently under development in West Virginia. The FEED engagement will advance engineering and constructability work as Frontieras continues development of the facility.
"Selecting a partner of Kiewit's caliber is one of the most consequential decisions a project of this scale makes," said Matthew T. McKean, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frontieras North America. "Frontieras had multiple paths available for this facility. Our board concluded that working with an organization of Kiewit's depth and record was the right decision for this project and for the engineering knowledge base of our broader development program."
The Company's board of directors was directly involved in the evaluation. Board member Jean Abiassi, P.E. is a Professional Engineer with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Texas Tech University and over four decades in the engineering and construction industry. Over a 17-year career at Kiewit, he served as field engineer, design engineer, chief engineer, lead estimator, and project manager on projects including the Shell Bullwinkle platform, two hydroelectric power plants on New York's Mohawk River, and multiple sections of Boston's Central Artery. He joined Zachry Construction Corporation in 2002, rising to President and Chief Operating Officer, where he led execution of projects including the DFW Connector, a JV with Kiewit ($1.5 billion), SH 130 Sections 5 and 6, a JV with Ferrovial ($1.1 billion), and Grand Parkway Sections F1, F2 and G ($1.1 billion). He subsequently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tutor Perini Corporation's Building and Specialty Divisions.
"An open-book FEED with a builder of this quality is how serious industrial projects reduce the risk," said Abiassi. "Having spent years as a chief engineer and lead estimator, and having run construction organizations at scale, I know what it means to have engineering, constructability, and cost development occurring in the same room at the same time, with full transparency into the estimate. That is how you get to a price you can finance and a schedule you can hold."
Frontieras retains ownership and direction of the FASForm™ process technology. Frontieras co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Joe Witherspoon, a licensed professional engineer, serves as central project manager for the facility and directs the process design.
"FASForm™ is our technology, and it stays that way," said Joe Witherspoon, P.E., Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Frontieras North America. "We own the process design and we direct it. What Kiewit brings is the engineering, constructability and cost discipline that surrounds a proprietary process — how it gets built, in what sequence, and at what cost. The organization that would build this plant is developing the cost basis alongside the design, on an open book, working toward a lump-sum proposal for the whole facility. That is a very different exercise than an engineering firm handing an estimate to a builder who had no part in producing it."
ABOUT FRONTIERAS NORTH AMERICA
Frontieras North America is an energy technology company commercializing FASForm™ Solid Carbon Fractionation, a process that converts coal and other hydrocarbon feedstocks into higher-value commercial products without combustion, and the Witherspoon Method™, a patent-pending process for producing ammonium sulfate fertilizer. The Company's flagship facility is under development in Mason County, West Virginia. Frontieras is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
For more information, visit www.frontieras.com.
ABOUT KIEWIT
Kiewit is one of North America's largest and most respected construction and engineering organizations. With its roots dating back to 1884, the employee-owned organization operates through a network of subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Guam. Kiewit offers construction and engineering services in a variety of markets including power; transportation; industrial; water; oil, gas and chemical; marine; building and mining. Kiewit had 2025 revenues of $18.2 billion and employs 34,500 staff and craft employees.
MEDIA CONTACT
Nora Shepard
VP Communications,
Frontieras North America
communication@frontieras.com
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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND IMPORTANT NOTICES
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the development of the Mason County facility and the potential negotiation of an engineering, procurement and construction agreement. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially.
The FEED agreement described in this release does not constitute an award of construction work. Whether the parties will enter into an engineering, procurement and construction agreement, and the terms of any such agreement, remain subject to further negotiation, and there can be no assurance that any such agreement will be reached.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Any offering of securities will be made only by means of a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them except as required by law.
