Inpex has announced that mooring installation works have commenced at the Ichthys Field in the Browse Basin, offshore Western Australia. The works form part of the Ichthys LNG Project’s ongoing offshore installation campaign.
On 6 May 2015, the first of 49 foundation piles were safely deployed and driven into the seabed in a water depth of 250 m. Each pile is about 66 m long and weighs more than 450 t.
Louis Bon, Ichthys Project Managing Director, said: “The mooring installation works are part of the offshore installation campaign that the Ichthys LNG Project commenced in October 2014 […] As part of that campaign, we are installing more than 30 000 t of subsea infrastructure and equipment across the Ichthys Field so that we will be able to safely and efficiently extract gas and condensate.
“The mooring work is being carried out specifically to prepare for the arrival of the Project’s two big offshore facilities – the central processing facility and the floating production, storage and offloading facility.”
The central processing facility (CPF) and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility are currently under construction in South Korea. They will be towed to the Ichthys Field in 2016, following completion, and moored for the life of operations by 40 000 t of chain secured to approximately 20000 t of foundation piles.
The mooring installation work scope is being led by Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) Australia – under subcontract to the lead contractor McDermott Australia – using the deepwater construction vessel DCV Aegir.
Moorings will be installed by DCV Aegir in non-continuous phases, with piles driven first and mooring chains laid out later in the campaign.
Inpex also confirmed that, as of May 2015, the Ichthys LNG Project had installed 47 km of flowlines, more than 30 flowline sleeper structures and a 6500 t riser support structure (RSS) in the Ichthys Field as part of the offshore installation campaign.
Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly