Bechtel: Three LNG Tank Roof Raises in Three Weeks (VIDEO)

Three roof raises across three projects in three consecutive weeks is all part of doing business on Curtis Island for Bechtel.

As the LNG plants on Curtis Island continue to take shape, some of the most visual elements were completed in June across the Australia-Pacific LNG, GLNG and Queensland Curtis LNG projects, with three of the six LNG tanks successfully capped with the raising of their roofs. And this is not your average roof.

Each roof, constructed at ground level on the inside of the tank and weighing in at about 900 tonnes, is raised on a cushion of air some 38 metres off the ground to the top of the tank wall where it is wedged and welded into place. The air is forced into the sealed tank cavity via a series of fans, using volume to force the roof to rise.

”The engineering is extremely simple. These are among the heaviest lifts we have on these projects, but this simple and very safe solution to tank roof construction means most of the work is done on the ground and no cranes are needed to successfully raise these roofs,” Bechtel Gladstone General Manager Kevin Berg said.

”Visually, these roof raises are significant. It’s a great sign of the progress being made across all three sites.” ”There is still a long way to go and 2013 is an extremely busy year for Bechtel in building the Curtis Island LNG plants. Our ability to hit three milestones across the three projects, all in the same month is testament to the skill, hard work and determination we have to successfully complete these projects.”

Since 1996, Bechtel has built more than one-third of the world’s LNG plants.

Recent LNG plant projects Bechtel has completed include Darwin LNG, Equatorial Guinea LNG, Egyptian LNG, Angola LNG and Atlantic LNG. Bechtel is also currently constructing the Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia.

Factbox:

June 14: The Australia Pacific LNG project raised its first tank roof

June 18: QCLNG raised its second tank roof

June 25: GLNG raised its first tank roof. QCLNG raised its first tank roof in early February.

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Source: Bechtel, July 17, 2013