“I never worked on BassGas,” Ripley told EnergyReview.net on Friday. Clough CEO David Singleton confirmed the fact this morning.

“I left Clough of my own accord to set up a consultancy business.” He said this would possibly even see him working with Clough in the future, scotching the rumours of bad blood with his former employer.

Ripley had an extensive track record in the offshore construction sector prior to joining Clough.

Meanwhile, the BassGas dispute simmers on. Clough and the Origin-led consortium have just over a week left to come to terms before the dispute must head to formal arbitration.

In other Clough news, Singleton told EnergyReview.net the company would probably be announcing in the next few days the formal awarding of the US$128 million Indian EPC contract reported in EnergyReview.net on Friday.

He said Clough had been bidding on the project for about six months. He said it had an estimated construction timeframe of around 24 months.