A SHORTAGE of accommodation on Barrow Island has emerged as the latest pressure point in the construction schedule for the massive $43 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas project.
A SHORTAGE of accommodation on Barrow Island has emerged as the latest pressure point in the construction schedule for the massive $43 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas project.
WA Business News understands that some subcontracting firms working on construction of initial facilities on Barrow Island have been advised to defer some scheduled work for up to three months.
The delays are understood to reflect a shortage of available worker accommodation on the island.
It is believed the delays apply to some subcontractors working for the TDK joint venture between Thiess, Decmil Group and UK-based Kentz, which last year was awarded a $500 million contract to build a temporary 3,300-bed accommodation village and associated facilities needed by construction workers while the Gorgon project is being built.
As a means to maximise the number of beds available, workers already with beds at existing facilities have been offered cash incentives to share their facilities.
WA Business News has been told these incentives were recently doubled to $150 per night.
A spokeswoman for Decmil declined to comment and directed all queries about the TDK joint venture to Thiess. Thiess did not return calls.
However Chevron, which operates the Gorgon joint venture, maintained that such pressures were not affecting its overall schedule for completion of the Gorgon project.
It was also normal to adjust the timing of particular activities in response to day-to-day conditions.
“The Gorgon project remains on schedule for first LNG in 2014,” a spokesman told WA Business News.
“We have a range of accommodation arrangements in place to facilitate Barrow Island construction activity until the Gorgon Construction Village is completed. This was always part of our planning.
“We are constantly making adjustment to suit our on-island construction priorities.”
Last month, Chevron Australia chief Roy Krzywosinski made similar assurances following persistent industry talk that its schedule was slipping behind.
Speaking at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference in Brisbane, Mr Kryzwosinski said the company had always understood that building on Barrow Island would be extremely challenging.
“You have to build the infrastructure to build the infrastructure; you have to build the construction village to build the construction village,” he told reporters at APPEA.
“We are paddling really hard at the moment (on) those early accommodations so that we can complete the first phase of the construction village which I hope to have achieved by the end of this year. Absolutely it’s hard work (but) we are making good progress, I think we are on schedule.”
Major constraints on activity on Barrow Island include a requirement that all disturbance be kept within an approved 300-hectare envelope and strict quarantine conditions to protect the island’s unique ecosystem.
