General Electric led consortium including UGL-CH2M HILL Joint Venture (JV) has been selected to execute a 500MW onshore combined cycle power plant for the $34bn Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia's Northern Territory.

The deal has been awarded by JKC Australia LNG, a joint venture between JGC Corporation, KBR and Chiyoda Corporation.

Under the terms of the agreement, GE will manufacture and supply five GE Frame 6B gas turbines, three SC4 single-flow steam turbines and heat recovery steam generators for the power facility based at Blaydin Point, Darwin.

GE Energy Australia and New Zealand senior region executive John Anderson said the new deal demonstrates the company’s long-term commitment to the growth of the LNG sector in Australia.

"Our gas and steam turbines are able to cope with the wide range of fuel gases encountered on a LNG processing train while meeting and exceeding emissions standards," Anderson said.

UCL-CH2M HILL JV, a joint venture between UCL and CH2M HILL, will execute the $550m contract including design and supply of balance of plant and undertake the construction work.

UGL managing director and CEO Richard Leupen said, "This is a significant win for UGL and demonstrates our consistent ability to leverage our engineering capabilities, in this instance our power generation expertise, to deliver work on significant resources projects."

Design, procurement and fabrication for the combined cycle power plant works is likely to begin shortly with completion expected by the end of 2016.

GE will manufacture the steam turbines in the US and ship them to Australia for installation, following completion of product tests in Italy in 2013; while the gas turbines will be supplied from Belfort, France.

The Ichthys LNG project will have an initial capacity to annually produce more than 8.4 million tons of LNG and 1.6 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas.

A 885km subsea pipeline will transport gas from the offshore drilling site in the Browse Basin to the onshore processing facility in Darwin.