Leighton wins LNG contract

LEIGHTON Holdings has stepped up its involvement in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector after partnering with international engineering group KBR to win a contract on the Browse project.

The KLH Australia joint venture, comprising KBR and Leighton subsidiaries Leighton Contractors and John Holland, has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the Woodside-operated Browse project.

Leighton and John Holland have separately won civil and construction contracts on various LNG projects, but have not been involved in the early engineering phase.

KBR, by contrast, is a global leader in LNG engineering, having worked on the North West Shelf venture and the Gorgon project.

The KLH Australia joint venture will provide FEED services for the development of three LNG processing trains, each with a capacity of 4 million tonnes a year, along with associated infrastructure, accommodation and marine facilities.

A second joint venture, comprising Chiyoda, Saipem and CB&I, has been awarded a lump-sum FEED contract for the same work.

At the conclusion of the FEED work, Woodside is expected to award one of the joint ventures the lucrative engineering, procurement and construction management contract for the project, likely to cost in excess of $20 billion to develop.

Similar to the onshore work, Woodside is conducting a competitive FEED process for the offshore platforms. As part of that process, it has awarded FEED contracts to engineering companies Modec and AKER Solutions.

In addition, Fluor has been awarded a FEED contract for the offshore central processing facility.

The engineering work is occurring in conjunction with continued negotiations over land tenure for the Browse project site, located at James Price Point near Broome.