Our History
Foster Wheeler Italiana S.r.l. was established as a corporate entity on December 12, 1957.
The rapid expansion of the refinery industry in Italy during the sixties provided many opportunities for Foster Wheeler Italiana, whose capability to handle larger and more complicated projects grew rapidly as well, materializing in a number of important projects in the refining, petrochemical, fine chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors.
One important area of business was (and still it is) the design and supply of Fired Heaters for the refining and petrochemical industry.
Business was very successful until the early 70’, with significant projects in Italy and abroad, including the realization of big, grass-roots refineries.
The oil crisis in late 1973 and a dramatic collapse of fibers and plastics market in Italy had a serious impact on the refining and petrochemical industries so that Foster Wheeler Italiana widened its sales efforts worldwide, landing contracts in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, Libya, Greece, Belgium, Singapore, Egypt and Korea. The late seventies show an 85% of Foster Wheeler Italiana’s workload outside of Italy.
New fields of activity were explored such as the environmental sector: a new company was formed, FOSWECO, which in only a few years grew to become one of the most important Italian companies in the environmental field.
A significant and successful development in the eighties was the acquisition of a small company specialized in clean room design and similar specialized technologies, STERIL. Thanks to this expansion, the company was involved in the design and construction of many manufacturing plants and research facilities for major pharmaceutical clients, in Italy and abroad.
In the nineties and beyond, Foster Wheeler Italiana continued to pursue traditional refinery works with major refinery modernizations and upgradings and entered the power business as owner and operator of power generation plants, launching various Build, Own and Operate (BOO) initiatives.
The activities in which Foster Wheeler Italiana is involved include traditional power generation plants like combined cycle units and the generation of power from renewable sources, such as wind farms.