Inpex lets pipelay contract for Ichthys export line
Inpex Corp. has let a contract to Saipem for the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of the gas export for the Ichthys LNG project’s gas export pipeline. The 889-km, 42-in. OD pipeline, which will be installed in 275 m of water, will connect the project’s offshore central processing facility to the onshore processing facility in Darwin. Saipem’s currently under-construction Castorone pipelay vessel will complete deepwater work in 2014, while its recently upgraded Semac 1 pipelay barge will lay the shallow water section.
Ichthys LNG is a joint venture of Inpex (76%, operator) and Total SA (24%). Gas from the Ichthys field, in the Browse basin, 200 km offshore Western Australia, will be processed offshore to remove water and extract condensate before transport to Darwin. Inpex expects Ichthys, at peak, to produce 8.4 million tonnes/year of LNG, 1.6 million tpy of LPG, and 100,000 b/d of condensate.
Saipem also won a transportation and installation contract for a 350-km, 20-in. OD Gulf of Mexico gas export pipeline in 100-2,100 m of water. Castorone will perform this work second-half 2013. The pipeline will transport gas from the Lucius and Hadrian South fields.
Castorone is under construction at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore and is already under contract to lay the Walker Ridge Export Pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico first-quarter 2013 (OGJ Online, Dec. 17, 2010).
Earlier this month Enterprise Products Partners LP and Genesis Energy LP announced plans to build and own an 18-in. OD, 149-mile pipeline for shipment of crude from Anadarko’s Lucius development in southern Keathley Canyon (OGJ Online, Jan. 4, 2012).
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].
Christopher E. Smith | Editor in Chief
Christopher brings 27 years of experience in a variety of oil and gas industry analysis and reporting roles to his work as Editor-in-Chief, specializing for the last 15 of them in midstream and transportation sectors.