Western Australian engineering firm AGC has won an $11 million contract to fabricate a mobile biofuels plant for Natural Fuel Australia's $45million biodiesel facility in Darwin.
Western Australian engineering firm AGC has won an $11 million contract to fabricate a mobile biofuels plant for Natural Fuel Australia's $45million biodiesel facility in Darwin.
Western Australian engineering firm AGC has won an $11 million contract to fabricate a mobile biofuels plant for Natural Fuel Australia's $45million biodiesel facility in Darwin.
The contract will see AGC fabricate, install piping and assemble all the equipment and specialised components for the biodiesel plant, using the common user facility at the Australian Marine Complex.
Energy, Science and Innovation Minister Francis Logan said the contract was another win for the AGC and the AMC.
"AGC has embraced and maximised their growth and ability to compete at a national level in the oil and gas industry, with the help of the AMC and common user facility," Mr Logan said.
The plant is scheduled for completion by September 2006 and, when operational, will manufacture approximately 105,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year - a fuel derived from natural vegetable oil which can be used to replace mineral diesel fuel.
"The idea of the AMC was to establish a world class multi-purpose fabrication, assembly and load-out facility and that is exactly what it has become," the Minister said.
"This contract shows local industry that they can manufacture large modules for significant fabrication projects, further enhancing WA's local industry capabilities."
Other notable achievements by AGC's oil and gas business unit include the successful completion of the EPC contracts for both the Linda and John Brookes developments for Apache Energy and the recent Pohokura Jacket for Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS New Zealand). It was the first-ever jacket fabricated and exported out of Australia.
From 2000 to 2003, the State and Commonwealth Governments combined to finance the development of the $180million AMC common user facility, primarily to provide infrastructure capability to fabricate the structures and modules for the offshore oil and gas industry in WA.
Since its completion in June 2003, the AMC facility has injected more than $55million of work from more than 100 contracts into the local economy, with an estimated employment generation of 800 full-time positions. In August, 2005 the State Government approved capital works funding of $90.1million to fund infrastructure upgrades to enhance the operational capacity of the AMC facility.