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Construction begins on Gorgon

Representatives from joint venture partners Chevron Australia, ExxonMobil and Shell were joined by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett and the Federal Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson on the site of the $43 billion project.

The Gorgon LNG Development involves the installation of a subsea gathering system and pipelines from the Gorgon and Io/Jansz fields to Barrow Island.

Three 5 million tonne per annum (MMt/a) LNG trains, to be located on the central-east coast of Barrow Island, will process the gas. LNG will then be shipped to international markets while domestic gas will be delivered via a 90 kilometre subsea pipeline to the Western Australian mainland, interconnecting with the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

The ceremony was held close to where the three LNG trains, a domestic gas plant, an LNG loading facility and a carbon dioxide injection plant will be built.

Major construction activity is expected to commence in the second half of 2010, with construction of the project expected to take five years. First gas is due in 2014.

As the majority of the government revenues from the project will flow to the Commonwealth, Mr Barnett welcomed the Federal Government’s pledge to spend 25 per cent of expected petroleum resource rent tax from the project – worth up to $100 million per year – on Western Australian infrastructure projects.

With total gas resources of 40 trillion cubic feet, the development will be one of the biggest resource projects in Australia’s history.

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