This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Bechtel will build the Woodside Louisiana LNG terminal on the Gulf Coast for Woodside Energy, according to a Dec. 5 news release from Australia’s largest oil and gas company.
The cost of the entire five-train LNG production and export facility near Lake Charles, Louisiana in Calcasieu Parish is estimated at $27 billion. Based in Reston, Virginia Bechtel initiated the project in 2022, performing demolition, site preparation and critical foundation construction, the builder said in a press release at the time.
In October Woodside paid $1.2 billion for Tellurianthe parent company that had been developing the terminal, formerly called Driftwood LNG. Bechtel has continued to work since the acquisition and has just signed a revised turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contract to develop the three-train, 16.5 million tonne-per-year foundation facility for Woodside.
Bechtel’s new contract is for phases 1 and 2 of the project, which are estimated to cost between $900 and $960 per ton, a Woodside spokesman said in an email. Phase one consists of two trains with a capacity of 11 million tonnes per annum, and phase two has one train with a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per annum, bringing the total cost to 14.9 billion dollars to $15.8 billion.
Bechtel has already completed substantial work on the terminal, Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said in the October release.
“[The Woodside Louisiana LNG project] it is fully permitted, the front-end engineering design is complete and the civil works on the site are well advanced,” O’Neill said.
Project difficulties
Over the years, the project has encountered multiple challenges. when Tellurian awarded Bechtel $15.2 billion in contracts For the construction of the project’s export facility in 2017, construction was scheduled to begin in 2018 and the facility was expected to become operational in 2022.
However, reduced demand and the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for Tellurian to secure deals with equity investment partners, and the project did not begin until 2022. Last year, Tellurian went solo bid for one extension of the construction permit for three yearswhich pushes the launch date to at least 2029.
“The project is fully permitted and has US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval through the second quarter of 2029,” a Woodside spokesman said in an email. “We have not provided guidance on the completion date of the project.”
Developers have also struggled the demands of environmental groups. Now Woodside is looking for it sell a 50% stake in the projectaccording to Reuters.
When fully constructed, Woodside Louisiana LNG will be one of the largest plants in the world, with its five liquefaction trains producing up to 27.6 million tons of methane gas per year, according to oilprice.com.
