Australian gas, power projects hit by collapse of contractor Clough
06/12/2022 24:53
By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Major gas and power
projects crucial to Australia's energy supply from 2023 onwards
are facing delays following the collapse of engineering firm
Clough on Monday.
Clough was placed into voluntary administration by its South
African parent, Murray & Roberts Holdings MURJ.J , after a deal
to sell the business to Italian construction giant Webuild SpA
WBD.MI fell through.
Deloitte, appointed as voluntary administrator, said it
would assess Clough's financial position over the next two to
three days and begin an accelerated sale and recapitalisation
process, aiming to get projects back on track.
It said the goal is to source "immediate interim funding to
be able to continue work on as many projects as possible as
quickly as possible".
Webuild and Clough are partners on the A$5 billion ($3.36
billion) expansion of the Australia's biggest hydropower scheme,
Snowy 2.0, which is already facing a delay of nearly two years.
Clough is also handling construction of the A$768 million
($515 million) Waitsia Stage 2 gas project, owned by a unit of
Japan's Mitsui & Co 8031.T and Australia's Beach Energy
BPT.AX .
The Waitsia Stage 2 project was due to start producing gas
for export through the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas
(LNG) plant in late 2023. Mitsui said it was too early to say
what impact Clough's collapse would have on that timing.
"Given that an administrator has only just been appointed
for Clough, it would be premature to speculate on the precise
impacts for the Waitsia Gas Project Stage 2," Mitsui said in a
statement.
Clough is also the contractor on a key project needed to
shore up Australia's power supply, the 320 megawatt (MW)
Tallawarra B gas-fired power station owned by EnergyAustralia, a
unit of Hong Kong's CLP Holdings 0002.HK .
An EnergyAustralia spokesperson said the company was working
through the implications of Clough going into administration and
would have further comment later on Tuesday. Tallawarra B was
due to start operating in October 2023.
Another major project facing delays is a 900 kilometre power
transmission line, EnergyConnect, owned by TransGrid, essential
for hooking new solar and wind farms to the grid. The line from
South Australia to New South Wales was due to be completed in
July 2026.
TransGrid had no immediate comment on Clough's collapse.
($1 = 1.4901 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Additional reporting by Praveen
Menon in Sydney; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))