The 5.2-million-metric-ton-per-year Angola LNG processing plant is the onshore portion of a broad program to commercialize gas reserves for domestic use and export. The plant will help fuel industrial power generation and an expanding petrochemicals industry in the Congo River delta. In addition, commercializing Angola’s gas reserves helps increase employment. It provides feedstock for industrial power generation and an expanding petrochemicals industry. The plant features technology developed by ConocoPhillips, which Bechtel has used in a string of LNG plants.
Building local skills
- 8,362 Angolans trained in project and safety procedures
- 800 Angolans received on-the-job training in more than a dozen job areas
- 611 Angolan workers earned national standard trade-craft certifications
- 69 Angolans trained and promoted to supervisory positions
Protecting crucial biodiversity
Bechtel’s project team relocated endangered reptiles to amenable habitats nearby and monitored turtle and marine mammal populations during coastal sand extraction in preparation for the reclaimed site.
Expanding Angola's role as a global energy supplier
As contractor for the biggest single investment in this West African nation’s history, Bechtel encountered challenges expected in a remote location. Crucial infrastructure was lacking, and qualified vendors, subcontractors, and craft workers were in short supply. We worked with authorities to build a new cargo dock, roads, and a 6,500-person camp with its own power and water supply—all of which will remain as important legacy infrastructure to support industrial growth in the Soyo area.
Meanwhile, we enhanced skills of the local workforce and small businesses with comprehensive worker and supplier development programs that exceeded our own, the customer’s, and the Angolan government’s ambitious goals.
A lasting legacy
Our customer—a consortium of Sonangol, Chevron, BP, Total, and ENI—asked us to help train workers and add breadth to local businesses.
At our training facility, we acquainted local recruits with the highest quality and safety standards, and we provided more than 220,000 hours of customized classroom and on-the-job training in basic skills and English. This training left them well prepared—in welding, carpentry, ironwork, electrical work, heavy-equipment operation, and other more-advanced skills—for work on future oil and gas projects in the delta.
As we hired and trained local workers, we built a database that captured individuals’ craft certifications and work experience to facilitate their future employment.
Angolan subcontractors built foundations for permanent structures and were active partners in building the project’s five huge storage tanks. We found local sources for camp provisions and construction supplies; we recruited local companies for services from growing fresh vegetables to simple repairs to mosquito control.
Overall Bechel spent $1.4 billion on local goods and services.
In addition, Bechtel volunteers renovated and upgraded a school, an orphanage, and a maternity clinic for the Mpinda Catholic Mission, and expanded a primary school at Bairro Fina as a legacy gift to the community.
