HOUSTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Owners of a $10-billion

liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that has stalled with the

bankruptcy of its main contractor are asking a court to

immediately oust Zachry Industrial from the project, a court

filing showed.

Zachry, which held the lion's share of the

contract to build Golden Pass LNG, filed for Chapter 11

bankruptcy last month after suffering enormous cost overruns,

and said it was pursuing a "structured exit."

Golden Pass LNG, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and

Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), asked a U.S. bankruptcy court late on

Tuesday to sever Zachry's $5.8-billion contract within five

days, or allow it to take possession and control of the

facility, which is about 75% complete.

"Zachry has stopped performing its obligations under the EPC

(engineering, procurement and construction) contract, fired

thousands of workers, stopped paying its subcontractors and

abandoned the Golden Pass project that it committed to building

at a lump-sum fixed price," the filing said.

Zachry, based in San Antonio, Texas, said it expects "to

receive fair and appropriate compensation" for its role in the

construction joint venture.

"We realize it is unlikely we will come to an agreement on

an amended EPC contract and we consider a structured exit to be

the most likely outcome by the time Zachry is exiting

bankruptcy," a spokesperson for the contractor said in a

statement.

Zachry previously said the project cost had ballooned by

$2.4 billion from pandemic-related challenges, change orders and

billing schedules and it had been unable to resolve the

difference with the owners.

"Golden Pass and its shareholders have left a trail of

others harmed in their wake, including thousands of employees

who lost their jobs and local vendors and suppliers not paid for

their work. As we seek to resolve this matter through the legal

process, our work is continuing, fully funded and fully staffed,

across our other projects nationwide," Zachry's statement said.

Golden Pass LNG told the court it needs to immediately take

over the contract and resume construction "to prevent further

long-term deterioration" of the partially built project. "The

scale and complexity of the LNG facility components left

partially completed and exposed to the elements can't be

understated," Golden Pass said.

The project, which was expected to start processing natural

gas this year, has not updated its completion schedule.

"Time is of the essence here: with every passing day, the

damage being caused by Zachry - to itself and everyone else -

only proliferates and becomes more difficult to remedy," Golden

Pass LNG said.