(EnergyAsia, March 14 2012, Wednesday) — An equal engineering and construction joint venture between Australia’s Clough Limited and BAM International of the Netherlands said it has received a letter of intent for a A$140 million contract to design and construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project near Darwin city in Australia’s Northern Territory.

BAM Clough will be tasked with the design and construction of Ichthys’s module offloading facility (MOF) that will form part of the terminal operated by Japanese oil company INPEX. The facility will be used to offload modules to assemble the main liquefaction plant.

BAM Clough expects to start construction in early 2013 with completion due a year later.

The consortium of JGC Corporation, KBR and Chiyoda Corporation (JKC) is the main contractor to build the US$34-billion export-oriented Ichthys terminal, the world’s most expensive LNG project to date.

Clough’s CEO Kevin Gallagher said:

“This award represents further growth in our near shore marine construction business delivered through our long-term joint venture BAM Clough.

“We are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with valued partner BAM, and are excited at the prospect of delivering excellent project outcomes for the JKC JV and ultimate client INPEX.”

The Ichthys LNG project is a joint venture between operator INPEX which holds a 76% stake, and France’s Total the remaining 24%.

The partners will produce natural gas from the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin located 200 km off the coast of Western Australia for preliminary processing to remove water and extract condensate. The processed gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889-kilometre subsea pipeline.

At peak, the Ichthys project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG a year along with 100,000 b/d of condensate.

Established in 1964, the BAM Clough joint venture has successfully delivered 13 major jetty projects for the energy and resources sectors.