US services giant Bechtel is busy finalising the costs and execution strategy for the liquefied natural gas expansion train planned for the Pluto LNG facility in Western Australia.

The contractor was last October selected by operator Woodside as the preferred execution contractor for the expansion.

Bechtel then began the front-end engineering and design work in December 2018 and has the option to take up a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract subject to Woodside taking the final investment decision, which the company has indicated will happen by mid-2020.

Woodside earlier has said that Pluto train two has an estimated project value of in excess of US$500 million.

The Train 2 project is connected tightly to the Woodside-led Scarborough gas field development — the new train would receive gas from Scarborough and would have the capacity to produce 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

Well-placed sources said Bechtel in the past months has sought expressions of interest from contractors for numerous smaller work packages that will eventually be tendered.

However, most of the major construction work will be awarded to overseas contractors.

Modular construction will be the method, as both Woodside and Bechtel have employed this strategy in Australia for years.

Woodside in late 2018 said there was a “lack of suitable facilities in Australia” for modular fabrication — a point of view that is not popular in Western Australia’s oil and gas fabrication sector.

Nevertheless, the Pluto expansion train will be built in modules in a yard or yards in Asia and then transported to Australia for on-site assembly.

Sources said that, at this time, there is no suggestion from Bechtel that it will tender the modules fabrication work.

Instead, Bechtel is planning to have discussions with a sole provider.

Bechtel has in the past used fabrication facilities in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand for building Australian LNG modules.

Bechtel built all six trains on Curtis Island in Queensland, which required more than 260 modules, many of which weighed more than 5000 tonnes.

Bechtel also built the two-train Wheatstone LNG facility, following the modular method, while its first-ever LNG project in Australia was the Darwin LNG facility that was built ground-up.

Woodside late last year explained that Bechtel has “in-house capability to self-perform elements of the work through its own Australian and affiliated international organisation”.

This includes engineering design, the manufacture of pipe and spools, construction of modules and management of site construction using direct hired labour.

Certain LNG equipment is proprietary to specialist international manufacturers, and there is no Australian manufacturer available, said Woodside.

Bechtel is likely to procure gas turbines, compressors, cold box, heat exchangers, chillers and condensors, columns, LNG pumps and nitrogen rejection unit pumps overseas.

Bechtel has used the Optimized Cascade LNG process for all its work in Australia.

Another major component of Bechtel’s workscope will be a proposed construction accommodation village in Karratha, which will house the workforce required for Pluto Train 2.

At peak, Bechtel expects that up to 2500 non-local Bechtel and sub-contractor employees will be housed at the facility to supplement a local workforce.

Bechtel has said the village is anticipated to be in operation for up to five years and will then be demobilised when the work is complete.

Woodside owns a 90% interest in the Pluto development, with Kansai Electric Power and Tokyo Gas each holding 5% equity.

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Bechtel finalising Pluto Train 2 strategy