Construction giant Bechtel is celebrating a major Curtis Island milestone after delivering the last of Australia Pacific LNG's (APLNG) modules. In total, the $24.7 billion APLNG development required 69 modules. The milestone marks the arrival of all 260 modules for Bechtel's LNG construction projects on Curtis Island.

Bechtel LNG general manager Alasdair Cathcart said it was an incredible accomplishment and vital to keeping the projects on track.

"The construction and transport of the modules—including one weighing six times more than an A380 airliner—were among the most complex challenges of the projects," he said. "Their successful delivery is a result of collaboration with our customers and the dedication of the teams at each location."

APLNG project manager at ConocoPhillips, Kent Anderson, said the projects start-up remained on schedule. "We are very pleased to pass this milestone as we continue steady progress to first LNG export in mid-2015," he said.

Darren Mort, Bechtel's senior project manager for the APLNG project, said the last few weeks had been particularly busy.

"In just the last five weeks, we have delivered six major modules to the site, including the biggest across all three LNG projects, weighing in at 3500 tonnes," he said. "The delivery of all 69 modules to the APLNG site marks the culmination of years of design, planning and construction along with the complex transport and logistics requirements of moving and receiving the modules at Curtis Island."

Bechtel has a major presence on Curtis Island with the company delivering the modules to all three of the CSG-to-LNG plants being built side-by-side, simultaneously.

The modules for the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG), Santos GLNG, and the APLNG projects were designed, built, and delivered over a three-year period. The modules were built by Bechtel in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines then shipped to Australia. While the total module scope and size is similar for the three projects, each project designed their modules to meet the engineering parameters required for their site.

The Santos' GLNG project consists of 111 modules while QCLNG has 80. The tallest module measures more than 30m and the longest more than 75m. The US$18.5 billion GLNG project had its last module installed back in June. Santos recently indicated the second-half of 2015 as the start-up timeframe for the development.

The BG Group-led US$20.5 billion QCLNG project has previously given a December 2014 deadline for first exports. A QGC spokesman told Oil and Gas Investor Australia that BG Group had reiterated to the market it was on track for first LNG by the end of the year.

The spokesman also conceded that Bechtel had communicated to its workforce an internal date of 20 December for first LNG "to help align work priorities."

Lauren Barrett can be reached at lbarrett@hartenergy.com.

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