Australia’s WorleyParsons has been awarded a three-year contract to provide project management support for the Basra Gas Company (BGC) joint venture in the south of Iraq.

WorleyParsons will provide project management, technical and construction supervision personnel to support BGC in its rehabilitation inspection, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities, according to a 21 January company statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The company will also provide an established project quality management system to help manage and control the project effectively during its execution.

The contract’s value was not reported in the statement, but it will involve in excess of 500,000 man-hours, to be executed from WorleyParsons’ offices in Iraq and the UAE.

State-owned South Gas Company owns a 51 per cent stake in the Basra Gas Company, while oil major UK/Dutch Shell Group maintains a 44 per cent stake. Japan’s Mitsubishi holds the remaining 5 per cent stake in the 25-year joint venture.

Basra Gas Company expects to commence operations in early 2014, to capture and utilise associated natural gas currently flared in three of Iraq’s southern oil fields.

WorleyParons was awarded another three-year project management deal in November 2012, by Russia’s Lukoil, which is developing the West Qurna phase 2 oil field in the south of Iraq.