During the week the company was also awarded the initial FEED contract for the $200 million Casino gas field offshore western Victoria.

"The result for the half year is in line with our expectations and demonstrates the benefits of our increasingly diversified business. The Worley Parsons Energy Services joint venture has provided us with critical mass in the US market and is showing promising early results," said Worley CEO John Grill.

"We continue to see solid growth in our Minerals, Metals & Chemicals business and have experienced ongoing strong performance in a number of our joint ventures both in Australia and in our international business."

"The contract for the restoration of Iraq Oil Infrastructure in the north of Iraq being executed by the Parsons Worley team reflects highly on Worley's capabilities and should provide us with additional growth opportunities in the Middle East," added Grill. The company has recently increased its participation in the US$800 million venture from 35% to 37.5%.

At the core of the company's business are its hydrocarbon investments, which accounted for 70% of the company's aggregated revenue. Successes on this front have come from strong results in SE Asia, the Iraq Oil Infrastructure restoration project by the Parsons Worley JV, the Houston-based Worley Parsons Energy Services JV, the Maintain Potential Programme for Saudi Aramco and strong successes in the Australian-New Zealand oil and gas sectors.

However, investments in the MEG Worley JV and other offices in the Middle East have proven to be below expectations thus far.

Despite these relative setbacks, Grill is confident for the future of the company.

"The outlook for the Worley Group remains strong. Worley has a robust and developing international network of operations, and an increasingly diversified business. Our revenue profile is lengthening with a solid increase in long term and alliance style contracts and we have a track record of acceptable earnings growth in our core business and joint ventures."

"The effect of the strong appreciation in the Australian Dollar is likely to have a material negative impact on our results for this financial year which should be partially offset by the currently expected contribution from the Iraq contract. With these factors in mind and subject to reasonable conditions in the markets in which we operate for the remainder of the year, we expect to deliver an increase in earnings in the 2004 financial year."