Australia: Bechtel Marks LNG Milestone

Bechtel announced the first modules for the Curtis Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects have arrived in Gladstone, Australia.

The prefabricated steel structures, which weigh a combined total of 7,716 tons (7,000 tonnes), are for the Queensland Curtis LNG facility, one of three facilities Bechtel is building on the island.

“The delivery of these first six modules is a major milestone for both Bechtel and our customer QCG. It marks the beginning of a new phase in construction, and the project will really start taking shape now,” said Kevin Berg, Bechtel’s operations manager in Gladstone. “These first modules, when pieced together, will form part of the structure to transport the gas from the tanks to the jetty.”

Eighteen months of engineering, design, and planning have gone into the construction of the modules. Each module is designed and built with extreme precision to fit into its specific location.

“Almost 3.5 million job hours have been worked to reach this goal, and this is where the construction of a megaproject starts to get really exciting,” said Bechtel QCLNG site manager Phil Newsome. “This is the first of 80 modules to be delivered, so from now on, the site will change noticeably as the major components of the facility start coming together.”

The modules were built in Thailand and transported by barge to Gladstone. The modules will be offloaded at specially designed facilities and transported to the construction site. A total of 260 modules for the three Curtis Island LNG projects will arrive in Gladstone by sea during the next two years.

Bechtel is a global leader in the construction of LNG facilities and has successfully built about a third of the world’s liquefaction capacity.

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LNG World News Staff, August 23, 2012