The two companies said yesterday the JV had been given a letter of authorisation (LOA) by operator, ChevronTexaco, to start work on the project. The joint venture will be mobilised immediately to start technical studies and front-end planning from dedicated JV project offices in Perth.

The Greater Gorgon development is located approximately 70-140 km offshore North Western Australia in 220m-1,300m water depth and includes both the Gorgon and Jansz fields. But it has yet to receive government and regulatory approvals. The fields are proposed to supply gas to a 10 MTPA LNG and domestic gas facility to be located on Barrow Island.

Technip business development manager Gianluca Lufino said the bid was a long and ongoing process, started many years ago. “The project team is up and running, and has been for some time,” he said.

The win adds to Technip’s sizeable Australian order book. Lufino said the firm was currently working on Woodside’s Otway Gas plant in Victoria and the Lambert field in Western Australia. It is also working on Anzon’s Basker, Manta, Gummy project in Victoria, the Pohokura project in New Zealand and the Kikeh project in Malaysia.

The value of the contract was not disclosed.

J P Kenny is one of the world’s largest pipeline and subsea engineering and management contractors and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Wood Group. Technip ranks among the top five corporations in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services and is based in Paris.