HOUSTON (Commodity Online): KBR (NYSE: KBR) has been awarded a contract to upgrade Rio Tinto’s fuel assets as part of the mining company’s investment in power and fuel supply projects to underpin existing and future expansion of iron ore production capacity in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
KBR’s minerals division will provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services to install fuel assets and storage in five locations: port facilities at Cape Lambert and Dampier, mines at Brockman and West Angelas and a maintenance yard located near Dampier.
The infrastructure will help provide certainty in meeting Rio Tinto’s fuel requirements.
Once the project is complete, Rio Tinto’s fuel network in the Pilbara region will use the company’s rail network to transport diesel to hubs for storage and further distribution to mines and power generation facilities. This will reduce the requirement for road trains to transport fuel on public roads from Port Hedland, 400 kilometers to the north.
Mark Read, President, KBR Minerals said, “We will draw on our global network of people to provide the resources to complete this project, which will be an integral part of Rio Tinto’s 333 expansion program.”
KBR has been involved in projects in the remote Pilbara for more than 30 years. The fuel infrastructure project follows KBR’s completion of a definitive engineering study for Rio Tinto that defined the diesel storage and transfer facilities required to support the company’s expansion in the Pilbara.
KBR will leverage its national network of resources to deliver the project, with project management services supplied from Western Australia and engineering services from the Adelaide engineering operations center. The project will begin immediately and is due to be completed in July 2013.
KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, industrial, and commercial markets.
