Decmil secures work on $6bn urea project

Decmil Group has secured a $84 million contract to conduct earthworks at Perdaman’s $6.4 billion urea project in the Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara.

The Ceres Urea plant project was launched in May, with the state government giving it state significant status.

Decmil advised the market today that work on site had started with the contract scheduled to be completed by July 2024.

The $6.4 billion urea project is a culmination of more than a decade’s work.

The project is expected to convert gas bought from Woodside Energy’s Scarborough project into urea, a key ingredient in fertiliser.

It will be the biggest urea plant in the country, and one of the biggest in the world, with an annual production of 2.3 million tonnes.

Under the contract, Decmil will do bulk earthworks on site covering drilling, blasting, construction of a causeway, supply and installation of culverts, establishing portable water lines, and general site cleaning activities.

Decmil announced it received the contract from Saipem Clough joint venture, a JV between Saipem Australia and Clough Projects Australia.

“We are delighted to have been awarded this package of works by SCJV, which falls right in our project value sweet spot of between $50 million and $150 million, enabling us to maximise supply chain benefits and achieve economies of scale,” Decmil chief executive Rod Heale said.

“Pleasingly, our orderbook is growing strongly whilst adhering to our highly selective tender strategy centred on high-quality larger-sized contracts.”

“The capital raising we undertook gives Decmil the financial strength to efficiently deliver on our expanded orderbook and positions us very well to target further contract awards across Western Australia, Victoria, and Queensland.”

Decmil said its orderbook has surpassed $550 million after the Perdaman contract award.