Bechtel Expands Operations On The East Coast; New Office Opens In Northern Virginia.

TYSONS CORNER, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 1996--Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) officially opened its office today in the Tysons Corner area of Northern Virginia to serve as its East Coast center of operations for the company's projects in the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Baltics.

Several major BNI programs will be managed by the Northern Virginia office, including its activities for the U.S. government's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program and other U.S. nuclear safety upgrade projects.

The CTR program is the product of U.S. legislation that in 1991 authorized the Department of Defense to assist former member nations of the Soviet Union to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Bechtel is currently at work on six CTR projects, valued at more than $100 million.

"We plan to consolidate our CTR projects to take advantage of procedures and lessons learned, to improve logistics, and to cooperate with Moscow, Kiev and Ukraine," said BNI's Ron Naventi, vice president of Operations in Defense and International Programs. "The Northern Virginia office will bring us into much closer contact with our customers, many of whom are based in the East Coast region."

The Bechtel International Consulting Group, currently helping Moscow and governments of the former Eastern Bloc create new laws and economic rules to restructure their energy industries, will be housed in the new office as well.

The group is halfway through a three-year contract from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help 11 countries establish new energy laws and policies to create new systems for their emerging free-market economies. Included in the project are Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

"This office is the newest star in the Bechtel National constellation of resources for projects that the company undertakes throughout the world. We can provide expert resources that are applicable to our customers worldwide," said Naventi.

Bechtel has had offices in the region since 1943. The Washington, D.C. office handles government affairs, international finance and marketing efforts. The nearby Gaithersburg, Maryland office, opened in September 1961, is the home of Bechtel Power Corp.

The Tysons Corner office, located at 8400 Westpark Dr., will house 35 permanent employees, including several members of BNI's management team, with additional growth expected in 1997 as other Bechtel projects move into the office.

Bechtel is a privately owned and managed corporation headquartered in San Francisco. Founded in 1898, Bechtel has grown into a multinational company with more than 60 business offices located worldwide. The Bechtel organization provides technical and management support services to develop, engineer, build and operate a broad spectrum of commercial and industrial facilities and infrastructure.

Bechtel National Inc. is a major component of Bechtel Group Inc. BNI specializes in providing a wide range of services, including large project management and integration, maintenance and operations, design, procurement, construction management, and environmental remediation for one-of-a-kind projects in the areas of defense and space and the nuclear fuel cycle. BNI is currently working on over 72 projects in 14 different countries.

CONTACT: Bechtel National Inc.

Olivia Kress, 703/448-3900 or 415/768-7920