ABC: NT declares itself open for business on LNG

There are a lot of blokes in Darwin this week, and not just because the US navy is having a stopover. 

It's all that gas. The annual SEAAC conference, together with the Northern Resources meet, will pull in 900 delegates including the top oil and gas producers, and all the industry that hangs off them: mining services, energy consultants, building contractors. 

And Chief Minister Adam Giles makes it very clear that the Northern Territory is open for business.

Clearly delighted by the Abbott victory federally, he talks of a "different paradigm in the confidence of investing in Australia", and many in the gas industry would agree.

The jewel asset for the NT is the Ichthys project, a joint venture between Japanese-owned Inpex and Total. 

For the first time globally, Inpex is the developer of the project, and it's not cheap. 

If on budget, it will cost $34 billion and employ at its peak 5,000 workers. Some will be local, but many will be fly in, fly out and conveniently those just coming off jobs on the big East coast LNG projects like Gladstone and APLNG. MORE