Australia Pacific LNG has awarded Laing O’Rourke a major contract to build gas processing plants and associated infrastructure as part of the first phase of a new scheme.

The AU$650m (£427m) contract will create up to 600 jobs and involve construction of seven new gas processing plants at Condabri, Orana, Reedy Creek, Combabula and Eurombah Creek. The contract also involves two permanent accommodation facilities at Condabri Central and Reedy Creek for 130 and 230 operational staff respectively, and support facilities including integrated operations centres, warehouses, workshops and internal roads.

Australia Pacific LNG chief executive officer Page Maxson said the contract represented a major milestone in the project’s development. "The gas processing plants are an integral part of the Australia Pacific LNG Project, processing the raw natural gas produced from the gas fields ready for delivery to the main transmission pipeline for export to domestic and global markets," he said. "We will benefit from Laing O’Rourke’s experience in successfully delivering the workforce, skills and other resources required for large scale projects like this one."

Laing O’Rourke chief executive officer, Steve Hollingshead said the company was excited by the opportunity to be involved in the delivery of such pivotal infrastructure. "We’re very pleased to be joining a project with the potential for such positive economic and social outcomes," he said. "We are very familiar with this region having previously completed Origin Energy’s Darling Downs Power Station project, and we will continue to ensure that local communities throughout the gas fields benefit from employment and other opportunities a major contract like this presents."

Construction on the three Condabri sites will start this month with completion across all sites expected by the end of 2014.

The Australia Pacific LNG Project is an incorporated joint venture project between Origin, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec that includes development of existing coal seam gas fields in the Surat and Bowen basins and construction of a gas transmission pipeline from the gas fields to an LNG facility to be developed on Curtis Island in Gladstone.

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