Total to sue engineering firm for project mismanagement that led to delays and excessive costs

30-Oct-15

Total Specialties USA is suing an engineering firm claiming that flawed and incomplete drawings led to delays and excessive costs in building Total's new US$5 million unit at its high density polyethylene plant in Pasadena, as per houstonchronicle.com. Total Specialties USA, a U.S. unit of French oil company Total, sued CDI Corp. in a Harris County state district court Wednesday afternoon for breach of contract and negligence in what Total says is project mismanagement. Many of the drawings were never completed or were drawn improperly, the lawsuit alleges. CDI Corp. did not respond to requests for comment. The lawyer representing Houston-based Total Specialties did not return a call for comment, as per houstonchronicle.com. The existing Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA plant in Pasadena has a capacity of 900 million lbs of polyethylene per year. Polyethylene is used in numerous plastic products. Total initially planned to complete the project last October. But it ended up months behind schedule and has incurred unnecessary costs, including replaced and reworked steel, piping, valves, air coolers, compressors and electrical systems, the plaintiff alleges. When delays surfaced, Total and CDI devised a revised schedule. But Total says that CDI never met the deadlines it promised. Total alleges that CDI mismanaged the project by having "no perceivable internal procedures, no perceivable project controls, and no unified software system."