(EnergyAsia, September 16 2011, Friday) — Australian engineering and construction company Clough Limited said its Clough Downer Joint Venture (CDJV) has been awarded a A$600 million contract to construct pipelines, compression facilities and associated infrastructure for the Santos-led liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Queensland state. (US$1=A$0.95).

CDJV secured the project from main contractor Fluor of the US to work on the Fairview component of the Gladstone LNG or GLNG project in the Surat Basin.

The equal joint venture between Clough and engineering and infrastructure management services group, Downer Australia, will construct over 400km of gas and water transmission pipelines, two compression facilities, an 800-person camp as well as expand the existing Fairview compression facilities.

The JV expects to start work later this month.

Clough’s CEO, John Smith, said:

“This is a significant project award and represents a breakthrough for our recently established coal seam gas (CSG) division into the expanding Queensland CSG industry. We will utilise resources and expertise from across the company and will work with our partner Downer to deliver the best possible project outcomes to Santos and their partners for this groundbreaking CSG to LNG project.”

Downer’s CEO, Grant Fenn, said:

“We have a compelling service offering and an expanding footprint in the growing oil and gas sector.”

GLNG is a pioneering project to convert coal seam gas (CSG) to LNG for export to global markets, in particular Asia. Tapping into Santos’s fields in the Bowen and Surat Basins, the project will deliver the gas through a 420-km underground pipeline to a two-train LNG plant with a nameplate capacity of 7.8 million tonnes per annum on Curtis Island in Gladstone.

GLNG is a joint venture between Santos and three of the world’s largest LNG companies, Malaysia’s Petronas, France’s Total and South Korea’s Kogas.