“LNG is different in that projects are highly technical and require the expertise of specialists,”? Citigroup analyst Julian Bu told the Australian Financial Review.
“Unfortunately much of the expertise seems to reside offshore, not in Australia.
“Essentially you need two things to get work upstream: either a deep pool of expertise or a vast labour-cost advantage, which is why so many things are done in China, Indonesia and Korea.”?
Mr Bu said that downstream, domestic contractors’ roles are mostly limited to completing civil works and earth-moving or mechanical and electrical engineering.
The Gorgon LNG development is a joint venture between Chevron as operator, ExxonMobil and Shell to install a subsea gathering system and pipelines from the Gorgon and Jansz fields to Barrow Island, Western Australia. The Greater Gorgon gas fields are expected to contain approximately 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.