Milestones

Awards · Announcements · Appointments

QATAR AIRPORT

QATAR—The government of Qatar has awarded Bechtel a $2.5 billion contract for the New Doha International Airport, the first airport built specifically to accommodate the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus 380-800. Bechtel will provide design, construction, and project and construction management for all facilities, including one of the longest runways in a commercial airport—5 kilometers. The facility is expected to open in 2009.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

USA—Bechtel Hanford has earned 100 percent of the available fee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office for management of Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Contract last year. Bechtel’s fee for management is based on its performance in completing predefined cleanup tasks and support activities. Since the project began in 1994, Bechtel has earned 96 percent of the annual available performance-based fee.

CUSTOMERS KEEP CALLING

USA—Bechtel’s relationship with AT&T Wireless and Cingular evolved recently with the proposed acquisition of AT&T Wireless by Cingular. At the time the acquisition was announced, Bechtel held contracts to construct 4,900 new cell sites for the two. The number of new sites will probably change, but Bechtel already has completed work on more than 37,500 sites for both customers. That makes Bechtel the largest telecommunications engineering and construction firm in the United States, with nearly seven times the revenue of its nearest competitor.

ALCAN AWARD

CANADA—Alcan has announced the award of a $150 million, three-year contract to Bechtel for engineering, procurement, and construction management services for a facility to treat and recycle residue from an aluminum smelter. Bechtel will construct the facility, near Ville de Saguenay, Québec, in collaboration with BPR-Bechtel, a company it co-owns with a Québec engineering firm.

AUSSIE ANNIVERSARY

AUSTRALIA—This year marks the 50th anniversary of Bechtel’s operations in Australia. The company’s experience in Australia and the Oceania region encompasses a diverse range of industries, including mining and metals, petrochemical, power, pipeline, and telecommunications. Bechtel’s first job executed in Australia was a crude-oil pipeline for the Mobil Oil Company in Melbourne, Victoria in 1954. Recent major projects include the Comalco Alumina Refinery, the Millmerran Power Station and the Darwin LNG Project.

SAFETY FIRST

SAFETY AWARD, USA
Bechtel’s joint-venture program management team at the Boston Central Artery project has been awarded the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s Arthur Quern Quality Award. The award cites the venture’s development of an electronic personnel-tracking system for use in emergency tunnel evacuations.

STELLAR SAFETY RECORDS:

  • The Sakhalin onshore oil and gas processing facility in Russia, 1.3 million work hours without a lost-time accident.
  • Juan Santamaria Airport in Costa Rica, 2.6 million hours.
  • Browns Ferry nuclear plant project in the USA, 2.1 million hours.
  • Collahuasi copper concentrator expansion in Chile, 2.5 million hours.
  • Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, 8.4 million hours.
  • The Trans-Malaysia Gas Pipeline, 2.6 million hours.
  • Nevada Test Site in the USA, 2.3 million hours.

AROMATICS COMPLEX

KUWAIT—Bechtel has been appointed by Petrochemical Industries Co. as project management contractor for a $1 billion grassroots aromatics complex, 40 kilometers south of Kuwait City. The facility will produce paraxylene, benzene, and light naphtha—hydrocarbons that are basic chemicals in a wide range of consumer products. The facility will be integrated with an adjacent olefins facility. Completion and start-up are scheduled for fourth quarter 2007.

PLANE TO TRAIN

USA—Passengers arriving at New York’s Kennedy Airport now have a light-rail link to nearby train, bus, and subway stations. The 13.5-kilometer system, called AirTrain, connects nine terminals with major transit lines, parking lots, and car rental locations. Bechtel oversaw construction of the $1.9 billion, five-year project for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

KAZAKH OIL PROJECT

KAZAKHSTAN—TengizChevroil has awarded a Bechtel-Enka company in Kazakhstan, Senimdi Kurylys LLP, $145 million in construction contracts for its sour gas injection and second-generation project. The company will install compressors and processing equipment for the sour gas facility and build oil and gas processing and power and utilities units for the second-generation project at the Tengiz oil fields. Project completion is planned for September 2006.

RUNWAY COMPLETION

USA—The new north runway at Miami International Airport was completed in record time—less than half that estimated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Construction proceeded around the clock, seven days a week for three years and was performed in stages to accommodate aircraft traffic. The runway—part of a $4.8 billion capital improvement program that Bechtel is managing—will help the airport grow for at least 10 years, while reducing delays.

CLOSER

HATS OFF TO HARDHATS—The originals, crafted from steamed canvas, were called “hard-boiled hats.” Today hardhats are molded in polyethylene; they’re lightweight, don’t conduct electricity, and stand up to the baking sun. Their trademarked shape is an emblem of safety.

But few know the role Bechtel has played in hardhat history. Fact is, Bechtel was the first builder to make them mandatory—purchasing hundreds in 1931 for its Hoover Dam project employees. And in the early 1980s, the company’s safety director proposed an innovation that yielded the biggest improvement in 70 years—an adjustable suspension that fits the hat more snugly to its wearer. Today, Bechtel buys upwards of 6,500 hardhats a year to keep employees safe. This year, more than 1,000 have been purchased for employees in Iraq alone.


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