Swindon-based engineering consultancy Halcrow has been commissioned by Qatar Petroleum to provide services for the development of infrastructure and marine facilities at a major port in Qatar.

The port is one of the largest LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facilities in the world and Qatar is set to become the world leader in LNG by 2012 through exports to Japan, Korea, Spain, Italy, India, UK and the USA. The expansion of the port is of key strategic importance to the Qatari government and this is a £7m contract for Halcrow.