A Civilian version of the Hercules aircraft will be needed to airlift building materials to Barrow Island during the Gorgon LNG project’s 18-month construction phase.

Stallion Aviation has been contracted to conduct the airlifts and has requested permission to land the aircraft at Karratha airport, which is owned by Roebourne Shire.

Shire president Brad Snell said landing fees paid to the shire could be worth $3 million a year if approval was granted. 

He described the project as a “very very big deal”.

“A social impact study has been done and they [Chevron] are looking at gaining as much indigenous employment as possible as well as gaining small business involvement and focusing on community development”. He said

“It’s very important the companies establish a permanent presence in the Pilbara and the signs at the moment are very promising that they want to be involved in the community.”

The project is expected to create 6000 jobs during the construction phase and 3500 permanent jobs in the production phase.

ExxonMobil, which is a partner in the Gorgon project with Chevron and Shell, signed a $50 billion contract with PetroChina last week to supply LNG for the next 20 years.

This deal followed a $10 billion contract signed with India earlier this month.  The gorgon project will generate about $40 billion in revenue that will fund schools, hospitals, roads and infrastructure, according to Federal Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson.

“The $50 billion Gorgon LNG Project will be the biggest single investment ever made in Australia, breaking the record set only a few years ago by the $12 billion Pluto LNG project now under construction in WA.”  Mr Ferguson said.  In a further boost to LNG production in the region, Woodside Petroleum has announced it will triple the size of its Pluto project in Karratha by 2014