Bechtel today released its Annual Report highlighting last year’s efforts to deliver for customers, keep colleagues and communities safe, and strengthen the path forward to a cleaner, greener, safer, and fairer world despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I want to thank Bechtel colleagues for demonstrating great resilience, partnering with one another and our customers to overcome many obstacles. I also want to thank our customers for entrusting us with their highest-impact projects,” said Chairman and CEO Brendan Bechtel. “Despite the challenges of 2020, the toughest in our company’s history, we stood with our customers to drive progress, and achieved one of the best safety records ever. Aware of the need to reenergize the global economy as soon as possible, we are now resolved more than ever to tackle the big global challenges that will determine the future of humanity and our planet.”
“We are excited about the changes taking place in the market, and are looking forward to working with customers who share our ambitions to deliver projects contributing to a cleaner, greener, safer, and fairer world,” said President and COO Craig Albert. “Last year, we brought our cost structure down considerably, making us more competitive. At the same time, we invested more in winning new work and building the competencies necessary to deliver that work. We have the wherewithal to deliver on our commitments to our customers.”
Bechtel achieved $17.6 billion in total revenue and $7.2 billion in new project awards in 2020. The company also approached its Diversity and Inclusion strategy with a new sense of urgency to accelerate the creation of an equitable workplace culture where colleagues can achieve their full potential and feel valued, respected, welcomed, and treated fairly.
Bechtel continued building on its more than 120-year history of delivering for customers and working with partners to transform the world for the better. Among the highlights, the company helped:
- Cheniere Energy Inc. load the first LNG cargo from the third train at the Corpus Christi LNG export terminal to support energy transition in the world market;
- The Department of Energy complete startup testing of the Analytical Laboratory at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, which furthers the project’s mission to safely treat 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste;
- Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority’s Silicon Valley Extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System in California provide rail services and car-free travel opportunities to more than 1.7 million residents;
- Teck apply innovative productivity methods to deliver the Quebrada Blanca 2 copper mine project with the lowest possible construction costs in Chile so they can bring copper, an essential resource, to the communications, energy, and technology markets;
- The U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives complete the first of four programs to safely destroy nerve agents from the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.
Bechtel entered into a number of new partnerships in 2020, including projects with:
- CityFibre to upgrade high-speed internet connectivity for up to 8 million homes and business in the UK by 2025;
- NEOM to deliver a bold new model for sustainable living and working that will become home to more than a million people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
- The Government of Serbia to deliver a 5G-ready motorway in the West Morava river valley that will connect communities, provide enhanced transportation for more than a half-million citizens, improve key flood defense infrastructure, and allow for future 5G fiber and tower installations;
- Egyptalum to serve as an engineering consultant for their seventh production line project in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, aiming to increase the production of aluminum by 250,000 tons per year using modern technology;
- Clearway Energy Group to build the Black Rock Wind Farm in West Virginia, increasing the state’s wind power by nearly 15% and providing green energy to 34,000 homes;
- TerraPower to engineer and construct a demonstration advanced nuclear power plant that is cost complementary to wind and solar using the Natrium™ system and innovative energy storage;
- Northrup Grumman to modernize the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch infrastructure for the U.S. Air Force.