"No real investments are going on, " said Brad Michelson, a vice president at Infinity Systems Engineering, a Colorado Springs-based government contractor in engineering, intelligence and information technology.

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Work to expand the refinery was sub-contracted by Total's main contractor - engineering firm Jacobs - to an Italian company, IREM, which decided to use its own foreign workforce.

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The company attributed increased costs to a combination of high inflation in Argentina and Chile, lower-than-expected contractor productivity, schedule extension and engineering, and planning gaps.

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The son of a contractor and a restaurant owner, Mr. Brichter graduated from Tufts University with a degree in electrical engineering in 2006.

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