LISTED IRISH engineering and construction group Kentz has secured a telecommunications construction contract worth 150 million Australian dollars (€87.28 million) from Chevron Australia for the Gorgon natural gas project in western Australia.

The project involves the design, supply, installation and testing of the telecommunications scope on Barrow Island, where Gorgon – Australia’s biggest energy project – will be based.

This is the second contract that Kentz has won from Chevron for the project.

It already has a deal to build the construction “village” on the island.

A joint venture of Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell plans to develop the gas field, which has reserves of more than 40 million cubic feet. Work is expected to start in 2011, and Chevron will be the operator.

The decision to allow the partners to go ahead and use Barrow as a base was controversial in Australia as the island is environmentally sensitive. However, it has already been used as a base for oil exploration.

Kentz said yesterday that the island’s remoteness means that communications with the mainland will be a crucial element of the project.

The Irish company specialises in providing engineering, construction and instrumentation services to the oil and gas, mining, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical industries.

It floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market in February of last year.

Dr Hugh O’Donnell, Kentz’s chief executive officer, said the Gorgon project will draw upon a number of Kentz’s core skills, “not only from an engineering, design and systems-integration perspective, but also delivering remote site installation and commissioning”.

Shares in Kentz gained 9.5p to close at £1.695 in London last night.