Gas and oil producer Santos Limited recently appointed Fluor Australia Limited as its contractor to perform engineering duties, procurement and construction of upstream facilities at its Gladstone liquefied natural gas project (GLNG) in Queensland.

A company statement released on Friday stated the producer will be expected to award the contract once a final decision has been reached to commence with the project.

"In the interim, Santos will extend Fluor's engineering design contract to include early works activities of approximately $50 million," Santos said in a statement on Friday.

The range of the upstream work includes all coal seam gas and associated water gathering and activities in infrastructure for both the Fairview and Roma fields in the Surat and Bowen basins, which is north west of Brisbane.

Rick Wilkinson, Queensland's president for Santos GLNG explained the project is expected to deliver its first LNG cargo by 2014.

Earlier reports also stated that Santos' prediction on its overall production in 2010 will be below its original forecast due to natural disasters. It will also seek expansions for LNG, with four world-class projects under its belt: Darwin LNG, PNG LNG, GLNG and Bonaparte LNG.

Santos closed its shares at $13.15 on Thursday.

Santos Limited is an Australian-based oil and gas exploration company. It also produces oil in different parts of the world, including Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.