Becthel says 2009 new orders plunge, revenue slips

* 2009 revenue down 2 pct to $30.8 bln

* Has 49,000 employees worldwide vs 44,000 a year earlier

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 (Reuters) - Bechtel, the largest U.S. engineering company, suffered a sharp drop in orders in an "extraordinarily challenging" 2009, when new bookings fell to $20.3 billion from a record $35 billion in 2008.

Revenue fell 2 percent to $30.8 billion last year, Bechtel said in its 2009 annual report, released on Wednesday. The privately held company does not disclose its profits.

The company said the global recession started to affect its industry in the fourth quarter of 2008, forcing many customers to rein in capital spending.

The San Francisco-based company said its backlog of project revenue declined by 5 percent to $82.1 billion in 2009.

"Some projects we had won were postponed, while others already in progress were slowed down or reduced in scope," Bechtel said. "In a few cases, we lost big projects when competitors underbid us in a cutthroat environment."

Bechtel, which manages projects from nuclear reactors and oil refineries to government services and transport, competes with companies such as Fluor Corp (FLR.N), Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (JEC.N), URS Corp (URS.N) and AECOM (ACM.N).

Despite the recession last year, Bechtel was hiring, reporting 49,000 employees in the annual report, up from 44,000 a year before. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; editing by John Wallace)