John Roberts, the Multiplex chief, launched a bold bid to force Government authorities to rescind the retention leases for the Gorgon and West Tryal Rocks gas fields, on the basis that the owners - ChevronTexaco, Shell and ExxonMobil - had not developed them.
Multiplex argued that a clause under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act gave the relevant Ministers the ability to renew the leases - which expired in June last year - only if the discoveries were not already commercially viable.
Roberts said the fields were viable, and that ChevronTexaco was delaying the project to suit its broader commercial interests.
He put his money where his mouth was and committed Multiplex to immediate development if it was successful in being awarded the leases, in an attempt to sway the politicians.
State Minister Clive Brown nonetheless stamped out the idea a fortnight ago in a letter to Multiplex in which it agreed with the ChevronTexaco assertion that the fields currently were not commercial.
Brown did say the lease renewals were conditional on a commerciality review within six months of obtaining in-principle access to its planned processing site on Barrow Island.
Multiplex has tried for some time to jump the fence from contractor to operator, with two early unsuccessful equity positions in mineral projects in the Northern Territory and in Tasmania.
The good news for Multiplex was that it seems to have won for the second time, the contract to construct the Bayu-Undan to Darwin gas pipeline which will feed ConocoPhillips' planned LNG plant which is to be constructed at Wickham Point.
It had won the initial bid some years ago with partner Saipem, which was subsequently put on hold until the wrangling over Timor Sea LNG royalties was settled.
It is understood it was the only consortium to put forward a fixed price for the job - a successful tender approach that sees Multiplex put its faith in its project management skills to conclude the job on time and budget.
A senior Saipem executive flies into Perth over the weekend to supervise this contract and its other major current job, the second North West Shelf trunkline.
