Milestones

Awards · Announcements · Appointments

DOE CONTRACT

USA The U.S. Department of Energy has named Bechtel BWXT Idaho as management and operations contractor for its Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment project at Idaho Falls, Idaho. The project involves retrieving and processing 6,000 cubic meters of transuranic nuclear waste, then shipping it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The one-year contract is eligible for a four-year extension.

GAS PROCESSING PLANTS

UAE Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd., the onshore gas-processing subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, recently awarded Bechtel two major gas plant projects in the United Arab Emirates: The $1.5 billion Onshore Gas Development (OGD) Phase III project, and the $1.24 billion Asab Gas Development Phase II project. Both projects include pipelines to transport natural gas liquids to Ruwais for further processing. Bechtel previously completed the OGD I and OGD II projects.

PIPELINE COMPLETION

THAILAND Bechtel has completed 620 kilometers of offshore and onshore natural gas pipelines for a joint venture of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Petronas. The Trans-Thailand-Malaysia pipeline will carry gas from the Gulf of Thailand to a gas plant in southern Thailand. From there, two onshore pipelines will distribute natural gas and LPG to Malaysia.



COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT

USA Bechtel has begun construction of the $2.15 billion Elm Road Generating Station at Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The two-unit, 1,230-megawatt supercritical coal-fired power plant project also includes 19 kilometers of railroad, a deep-rock intake tunnel under Lake Michigan, and air and water pollution control systems. Completion of the project, for a subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corporation, is scheduled for 2010.

SITE CLEANUP

USA The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Washington Closure Hanford, a team that includes Bechtel, to complete a $1.9 billion cleanup of its 1,517-square-kilometer Hanford Site along the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State. Between 1944 and 1989, the U.S. government used the Hanford Site to produce plutonium and other nuclear materials.

SAFETY FIRST

STELLAR SAFETY RECORDS In the United States, the Springerville power project in Arizona reached 2.6 million hours without a lost-time accident. Other notable safety achievements included 2.8 million accident-free hours at the East Side Access transit project in New York, 3.5 million hours at the New Doha International Airport project in Qatar, 1.7 million hours at the Equatorial Guinea LNG project, and 3.2 million hours at the Autostrada Transilvania project in Romania. Bechtel employees at the Nevada Test Site reached 6 million hours without a lost-time accident in October, a record for the company.

AFFILIATED COMPANIES Bantrel, Inc., Bechtel’s Canadian affiliate, recently completed 2 million hours of work without a lost-time injury on Petro-Canada’s Edmonton Diesel Desulphurization project.

MANAGEMENT MOVES

David Walker has been named president of Bechtel National, Inc. Rick Smith succeeds Walker as president of the company’s fossil power business. In Bechtel’s Oil, Gas & Chemicals business unit, Jack Futcher is now operations manager, responsible for all Middle East and former Soviet Union projects; Jim Jackson has been named executive vice president of Houston Operations; and Carl Rau has been named executive vice president of London Operations. Cliff Mumm succeeds Rau as president of Bechtel Infrastructure. Craig Weaver has been named executive vice president of strategy, marketing, and business development for Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure, Inc. Michael Bailey rejoins Bechtel as general manager of commercial and services for the Civil business unit.

UNDERGROUND STATION UPGRADE

ENGLAND Sports fans arriving at London’s newly renovated Wembley Park stadium will be greeted by a modernized Underground station later this year. The station upgrade increases its hourly passenger capacity from 22,000 to 37,500, and features a new covered pedestrian footbridge and an expanded ticket hall. The work is part of a London Underground improvements project overseen by Tube Lines, a consortium that includes Bechtel.

SMELTER PROJECT

OMAN Bechtel Mining & Metals is providing engineering, procurement, and construction management services for a 360,000-tonne-per-year aluminum smelter in Sohar, Oman. Construction of the project for the Sohar Aluminium Company—a joint venture between Alcan, the Oman Oil Company, and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority—began in December, with completion scheduled for early 2008.

CLOSER

The Wise Adapt The CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Complex in China’s Guangdong Province was once the world’s largest construction site. This massive endeavor, nearing completion by a multinational Bechtel consortium, has roots—and its future—at the local level, though, in the former rice paddies and farmland of scenic Daya Bay. That’s where villagers pay heed to an ancient proverb: “The wise adapt to circumstances….”

The four-year, four-square-kilometer project depended heavily on their flexibility. In addition to proffering their labor, the villagers participated in a relocation program that helped find them new homes and livelihoods. Now these same villagers are opening markets, restaurants, and hotels to serve new and growing nearby communities.

Just as the primary products of the $4.3 billion plant will be the building blocks of China’s big-business future, its leading by-product may be a burgeoning small-business community.

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