Alcatel-Lucent Scores Wheatstone Contract (Australia)

Alcatel-Lucent is working with Bechtel, a global engineering, construction and project management company, to deliver essential communications and security systems for the Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project in remote Western Australia.

The systems will enhance operations and support the safety and security of the workforce during the construction and operation of the plant, and provide leisure facilities for employees living on the site. The Wheatstone Project is expected to create about 6,500 direct and indirect jobs during peak construction.

The AUD $29 billion Wheatstone Project is one of Australia’s largest resource projects. The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Processing Plant is situated in a remote area of Western Australia, making a fully integrated, voice, data and video communications system vital to the smooth running of operations, providing information to workers wherever they are on-site. Alcatel-Lucent and Bechtel will provide local design, project management, engineering and integration services for the Wheatstone network, with additional opportunities available for Australian construction, installation and testing suppliers. The contract is estimated to create about 50 new jobs in Australia, with work taking place in both Perth and Onslow.

The project is the largest of its type undertaken by Alcatel-Lucent globally and is testament to the company’s expertise in delivering high-performance, super resilient communications systems to expanding industrial markets. The plant will reinforce Chevron’s position as a leading LNG supplier in the Asia-Pacific region, providing greater security of supply for its customers and economic benefits to Australia, creating employment opportunities for thousands. The initial phase will deliver a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes of LNG per year.

Rajeev Singh-Molares, President, Asia-Pacific at Alcatel-Lucent said: “Alcatel-Lucent is pleased to partner again with Bechtel to support such a strategically important component of the Australian economy. Our unmatched expertise in bringing together the high performance, reliability and security of communications service provider networks with enterprise IT infrastructure, allows us to deliver on the project’s specific requirements so Bechtel can focus on its overall plant construction task.”

Under the project, Alcatel-Lucent will design, integrate and deliver a complete communications, security and entertainment system, including broadband Internet and TV for the living areas, underpinned by multiple technologies and multiple vendors. The system will include an Internet-Protocol based phone system for businesses, a broadcast system for fast emergency notification to the workforce and people in the surrounding area, satellite communications, structured cabling, video conferencing, radio systems and communications tower and an uninterruptible power backup system (UPS). CCTV, Access Control and IDS will delivery security at the plant together with secure gates and access points.

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LNG World News Staff, January 11, 2011; Image: Chevron