Following this action by operator Origin Energy, there are no outstanding Clough-provided bond monies held by Origin relating to the BassGas project, Clough said this morning.
On April 8, Clough notified the market of an adjustment to its year-end result, based on the likelihood of this bond being called.
In early June, the companny warned of a possible $A60 million loss for the 2004-05 financial year, due largely to its dispute with Origin Energy and partners over the BassGas project.
“Clough remains resolute in its position on BassGas and looks forward to the completion of the arbitration process currently underway,” CEO & managing director David Singleton said.
Origin has said it was targeting July for the start-up of BassGas, off south-east Australia, once a number of "defects" in onshore processing facilities had been rectified.
An acceptance testing program at the BassGas site had uncovered several "defects and potential defects" affecting key systems, according to Origin.
"These systems were the responsibility of Clough to design and construct," the company said.
The BassGas joint venture and the original EPIC contractor Clough Limited have been in dispute over the BassGas project for about a year, with each party blaming the other for the delays to the project.
On December 16 last year, Clough submitted a certificate issued by Lloyds of London certifying the offshore facilities were contractually ready for start-up (RFSU) and implied that the delays were related to with mercury levels in the gas.
The following day, Origin ejected all Clough staff from the BassGas onshore and offshore worksites.
Origin said the Lloyds inspection did not cover all of the work required to be completed under the contract to ensure that RFSU was achieved. It also maintained that Clough was misrepresenting the mercury issue.
After Clough was ejected from the project, Downer Engineering was appointed to complete the remaining rectification works and modify the offshore facilities and onshore processing plant to handle some impurities in the gas stream.
Arbitration of the dispute is ongoing.
The BassGas joint venture comprises Origin Energy Resources (operator and 32.5%), AWE Petroleum Pty Ltd (30%), CalEnergy (Australia) Limited (20%), Wandoo Petroleum Pty Ltd (12.5%) and Origin Energy Northwest Limited (5%).
