Australia is quickly becoming the destination of choice among large U.S. contractors. It has yielded some of the world’s largest projects, centered on the country’s natural resources.
For example, Bechtel is working on four liquefied natural-gas projects there, including Queens-land Curtis, Gladstone LNG and Australia Pacific, all located on Curtis Island off Australia’s east coast. The firm is also working on Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project in northeast Australia. “All these are multibillion-dollar projects,” says Bill Dudley, Bechtel’s president.
Fluor is working on the Gladstone project and, in February, won a contract from Woodside for the Browse LNG Development project off Australia’s west coast. “Until about 20 years ago, [Australia] was a net importer of natural gas. Now it will be supplying energy to much of Asia,” says Steve Dobbs, senior group president.
KBR is also working on Browse LNG, says Bill Utt, CEO. In January, the firm won a job for the 140-turbine Macarthur Wind Farm, near Victoria, which is expected to be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere.
Bechtel has four mining projects for BHP-Billiton in Australia alone, including the Crinum North Coal Mine in Queensland.
