Strategic Marine has cashed in on Chevron's Gorgon liquefied natural gas project, winning a contract to build four workboats for the consortium developing the gas jetty and other marine structures.
The boats, which will be built at Strategic's Henderson shipyard, will be used to transport workers to and from construction barges operating at Barrow island and will be delivered by the end of June.
Strategic Marine chief marketing officer Terry O'Connor said the vessels would be the first delivered under a new contract with the Leighton-Saipem consortium, which won a $900 million deal to build Gorgon's LNG jetty and marine structures in November 2009.
The Leighton-Saipem consortium is a joint venture between construction contractor Leighton Holdings and Italian company Eni.
"This is a major coup for Western Australia and Strategic Marine and further reinforces our position as a leading provider of purpose-built workboats for use both here and in overseas waters," Mr O'Connor said.
"Leighton-Saipem Consortium is a major employer in the offshore services industry and we are particularly pleased to be working with them on such an important Western Australian project.
"Forging strong long-term partnerships with key stakeholders such as the Leighton-Saipem Consortium is very much in line with our goal to be an active player in the WA energy and resource sectors."
Also, earlier this week engineering firm ICON Engineering was awarded a $5.5 million deal to build a lift frame for use during upcoming drilling programs at Gorgon.
ICON will build a compensated tension lift frame, which will be used to provide heave compensation during drilling operations aboard the Atwood Osprey semi-submersible drilling rig.
ICON said the unit would be assembled in Perth, with many key components sourced locally from a network of mostly Australian suppliers
