Ichthys LNG project starts deepwater pipelay

The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project has started the deepwater pipelay for its 889 km-long gas export pipeline.

Saipem’s deepwater installation vessel Castorone will lay the remaining 718 km offshore section of the 42 in. dia. gas export pipeline. This follows the completion in November 2014 of the 164 km shallow water section by the SEMAC-1. 

The remaining 7 km of the gas export pipeline is onshore, incorporating the beach valve and the final section to the onshore LNG facilities site at Bladin Point near Darwin. 

Ichthys LNG Project Offshore Director, Claude Cahuzac, said: “Castorone starting work means we are now a major step closer to physically connecting our onshore LNG facilities to the Ichthys Field, where our offshore facilities will be moored for the 40-plus year life of the project.

“A significant amount of work has been safely completed to get to this stage of pipeline installation […] This includes a range of activities in and around Darwin Harbour such as dredging, landfall civil works, rock quarrying and transportation, and marine cable crossings.”

Inpex said that the deepwater pipelay is scheduled for completion in late 2015. When completed, the Ichthys LNG project gas export pipeline will be the fifth longest subsea pipeline in the world and the longest in the southern hemisphere.

Adapted from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquefaction/09022015/ichthys-lng-project-starts-deepwater-pipelay-207/