By James Paton
April 27 -- Chevron Corp. and its partners in the Gorgon liquefied natural gas venture off northwest Australia have awarded about A$20 billion ($19 billion) in contracts, with Australian companies winning more than a third of the work. A Leighton Holdings Ltd. unit is among Australian contractors that have gained more than A$7 billion in combined Gorgon orders, Chevron Australia said in its Frontier magazine. The company plans to add 700 workers in Australia by the end of this year as the country’s importance to Chevron’s global operations grows.
Australian gas developments have become the “centerpiece” of Chevron’s growth strategy as the second-largest U.S. energy producer advances the A$43 billion Gorgon venture, Chief Executive Officer John Watson said in the publication.
Chevron expects to employ more than 2,500 people in Australia by the end of 2010, compared with 1,800 now, the company said. Gorgon, due to start LNG exports in 2014, has already generated almost 3,000 jobs, the company estimated.
The construction of Gorgon on the Barrow Island nature reserve is proceeding after San Ramon, California-based Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc approved the project last year. Unions and contractors reached an agreement on working conditions in January, Chevron said.
The venture, Australia’s largest resources investment, will spend A$20 billion on Australian “goods and services” over the next five years, Chevron said. The U.S. oil and gas producer’s Wheatstone venture, also in Western Australia, is among more than a dozen proposed LNG projects in Australia targeting rising Asian demand for cleaner-burning fuels.
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