UK firm wins $88m Gorgon contract

UK-based oil and gas services provider BJ Services has been awarded an $US80 million ($88 million) contract by Chevron to provide pipeline precommissioning work at the Gorgon gas project.

The Australian subsidiary of the company will carry out the work, which is anticipated to create 30 new jobs in Perth to support the project during the next three years.

The project will be managed from BJ Services' new dedicated facility in Welshpool, which was recently opened to meet the demands of the growing Western Australia market.

BJ said in a statement that one of the keys of its successful contract will be cleaning and preparing all equipment to meet the stringent quarantine standards on Barrow Island.

Engineering and planning work started in January and first mobilisation is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Chevron is the operator of the $43 billion Gorgon project, a joint venture with ExxonMobil, Shell, Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Chubu Electric.