Barnett said benefits from the project were already flowing to locally-based construction and manufacturing companies. Businesses including Howard Porter, Mermaid Marine, Ertech and Laing O’Rourke were among those awarded contracts.
“Today marks the formal start of work on the biggest resource project ever seen in Australia,” he said.
“The scale of the project is big, but it’s the flow-on benefits to WA companies and the creation of jobs as a result that provide tangible benefits to local people and their families.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on ongoing, long-term maintenance and service contracts.
“The State Government has a local content policy in place and has been working with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry through the Industry Capability Network to ensure local businesses are involved and will benefit from the Gorgon project.”
While the majority of revenues from the project will flow to the Commonwealth, the Premier welcomed the Federal Government’s pledge to spend 25% of expected Petroleum Resource Rent Tax from the project, worth up to $100 million a year, on WA infrastructure projects.
The first LNG from Gorgon is due in 2014 and domestic gas is planned by the end of 2015.
The Gorgon project is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron Corporation (operator), Exxon Mobil Corporation and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to develop the Greater Gorgon gas fields, located between 130 kilometers and 200 kilometers off the north-west coast of Western Australia. The Greater Gorgon gas fields contain resources of about 40 trillion cubic feet of gas, Australia’s largest-known gas resource.
