Gorgon Project Summary & Contractors

The Gorgon Project is one of the world’s largest natural gas projects and the largest single resource natural gas project in Australia’s history.

The project is operated by an Australian subsidiary of Chevron and is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (approximately 47 per cent), ExxonMobil (25 per cent) and Shell (25 per cent), Osaka Gas (1.25 per cent), Tokyo Gas (one per cent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 per cent). Project investment is long term, with the plant expected to supply LNG for export and natural gas for local use for 25 years and beyond.  According to Chevron’s website, the resource being tapped is 25 per cent of Australia’s known gas reserves and contains about 40 trillion cubic feet LNG which is enough to power a city of 1 million people for 800 years.

The Gorgon Project will develop the Greater Gorgon Area gas fields off the north-west coast of Western Australia. ‘Greater Gorgon’ refers to a grouping of several gas fields, including Gorgon, Chandon, Geryon, Orthrus, Maenad, Eurytion, Urania, Chrysaor, Dionysus, Jansz/Io, and West Tryal Rocks, situated in the Barrow sub-basin. The Gorgon field is centered about 130kms off the northwest coast of Western Australia, where the water depth is approximately 200 metres. Other fields in the group lie to the north, such as Jansz-Io, which covers an area of 2,000 square kilometres in a water depth of 1,300 metres.  

Barrow Island lies off the Pilbara coast, 85kms north-north-east of Onslow and 140 kilometres west of Karratha and is 25 kilometres long and 10kms wide, covering 235 square kilometres. Using initially 18 wells, gas will be extracted from the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields and delivered via subsea gathering systems and pipelines to the north-west coast of Barrow Island, then via an underground pipeline system to gas treatment and liquefaction facilities on the island’s south-east coast.

The project involves the construction of a 15 million tonne per annum LNG plant on Barrow Island and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to provide 300 terajoules per day to supply gas to Western Australia. The plant will consist of 3 LNG trains (liquefaction and purification facilities), each capable of producing a nominal capacity of five million tonnes per annum (MTPA).   Carbon dioxide which comprises around 15 per cent of the raw gas stream, will be stripped out then injected into formations deep below the island. LNG and condensate initially stored in onshore tanks, will be offloaded from a 2.1 kilometres jetty onto LNG carriers and oil tankers, for delivery to overseas customers. Natural gas for domestic use will be exported by a 70 kilometres subsea pipeline to the mainland, for transmission to local customers. The Project’s official groundbreaking occurred in late 2009 and construction is expected to take around five years to complete with first gas in 2014.

Barrow Island is listed as a Class A nature reserve with many unique species native to the island and the environment must be preserved and protected. A modular construction approach has been adopted to reduce the impact of the project construction on the Island. Stringent environmental quarantine regulations apply to all buildings, materials and equipment introduced to Barrow Island. Given the offshore location of Barrow Island, plant and materials will be transported direct to Barrow Island from overseas suppliers or from project supply bases located in Perth and Dampier. All components or equipment for use on Barrow Island will be subject to stringent quarantine standards.

Gorgon is the single largest ever Australian resource investment. By early 2010 it had already committed to more than $7 billion in investment in local goods and services and was responsible for around 3,000 jobs in Australia.

These jobs are mainly in Perth—spread right through the metropolitan area including Fremantle, Henderson, Spearwood, Bassendean, Redcliffe, O’Connor and South Guildford—in the Pilbara at Dampier and on Barrow Island, and across Australia.

The Project is expected to spend about $20 billion on Australian goods and services over the next four to five years.

It is estimated that the Gorgon Project will provide up to 10,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities at peak construction. Direct workers are directly involved in the production of goods or services.  Indirect workers may oversee others or are in facilitation roles such as human resources officers and contract managers.  By July 2010, there were around 600 workers on Barrow Island.   Construction of a 3,000-plus person accommodation village on Barrow Island is also currently underway.

The project planning indicates there are over 1000 different skilled jobs and professions required to complete this highly technical and complex project. The phases of the Gorgon.

Project include off site prefabrication for many parts of the LNG plant and the construction camp, transport and installation; construction of the accommodation village, the LNG plant and a 2.1 kilometre jetty and materials handling facilities on Barrow Island (civil and marine engineering works, site preparation, roadworks, construction, logistics and warehousing, telecommunications, electrical and instrumentation work); construction of mainland harbor and storage facilities; marine, subsea and pipeline construction and off shore drilling in the gasfields phase of the project.

A large number of construction skills will be required in the areas of concreting, rigging, carpentry, pipe fitting, boilermaking and welding of all types, steel fixing, insulation lagging, painting, fencing, crane and plant operating and truck driving. There a many specialized roles in marine/undersea construction and LNG plant operations that will require experienced workers.

The full range of support services have been contracted to sustain the project and the workforce such as utilities, transport, quarantine and environmental control, security, medical care, catering, cleaning and waste removal and maintenance. The Gorgon Project workforce will be located mostly on Barrow Island, and in Karratha and Perth.

After Gorgon construction is completed, the workforce of around 500 will maintain the LNG and natural gas supply at the plant on Barrow Island and in administration in Perth.  Recruitment has been underway for permanent roles for some months.

Source: National Resource Sector Employment Report 2010

Awarded Contracts and Employment Opportunities include: 

• Thiess/Decmil Pty Ltd/Kentz Pty Ltd Joint Venture (TDKJV); contracted to design and construct an accommodation construction village on Barrow Island for Chevron Australia.
• Offshore Marine Services Alliance (OMSA); marine vessel and labour supply.
• Australian Portable Camps; contracted to design, construct and operate a 300 bed rapid deployment camp.
• Mermaid Marine; access to a common-user marine supply base located at Dampier in the north-west of Western Australia.
• Thiess; site preparation works and construction of temporary facilities on Barrow Island.
• Toll; to manage the supply base and logistics services on Barrow Island. It is anticipated about 200 people will be employed under the extendable three-year contract.
• JP Kenny Pty Ltd and Technip Oceania Pty Ltd; Gorgon Upstream Joint Venture (GUJV) as the front end engineering and design (FEED) and engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contractor with respect to the upstream facilities for the Greater Gorgon development.
• The Kellogg Joint Venture - Gorgon (KJV-G) including KBR, JGC Corporation of Japan, and Australian-based partners Clough Projects Australia Pty Ltd and Hatch Associates Pty Ltd have been selected to perform the FEED for the downstream part of the project.
• The Saipem Leighton Consortium was selected to develop the $900m Jetty and Marine Structures project. The scope of work includes design, material supply, fabrication, construction and commissioning of Australia’s longest LNG jetty which also includes supply, fabrication and construction of marine structures. Project design is underway and construction is to commence in late 2010 on Barrow Island, to be completed in 2013.
• CBI was awarded the contract for the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction of two 180,000 cubic metre full containment LNG tanks, four condensate tanks, and the associated piping, electrical, instrumentation and civil works.
• Neptune Marine Services; contracted to provide diving, survey and vessel support services, which forms part of the scope of works awarded to Marine & Civil Construction. The scope also includes installation of pipeing and the offshore pump station associated with the temporary desalination plant at Barrow Island, diving support for the construction of a new supply barge facility, general construction and dive support. Work commenced in January 2010.
• Compass: catering and camp services.
• Monadelphous; facility management.
• Agility Project Logistics; supply base operation and road transport.
• Omega Security Services; site security services.
• Health Services Australia Ltd; medical services and personnel.
• ERTECH; initial civil works.
• Allseas; offshore pipeline contract.
• Aker Solutions; design of the Mono Ethylene Glycol Plant.
• Altona Plumbing and Encee Electrical; supply and installation of services for the LNG Jetty and marine structure.
• WA Civil Contracting and Spiers Earthworks; earthworks and paving contract for the LNG jetty and marine structure.