Matrix Composites & Engineering announced it has entered into an agreement with Allseas for the supply of rigid pipeline installation buoyancy for the Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project in Western Australia.
The agreement will aid in sustaining the local manufacturing industry and support 225 local jobs, particularly in Kwinana and Rockingham. Under the agreement, 35 people will be directly involved in manufacturing the product, with an additional 190 shop floor staff involved with the manufacturing process.
Matrix will supply 70 four tonne installation buoyancy assemblies to the Wheatstone Project. The buoyancy will be used to reduce the weight of the project’s 44 inch carbon steel, concrete coated rigid subsea pipeline as it is installed along 225km of ocean floor.
Matrix’s installation buoyancy is manufactured using composite syntactic foam and composite laminate technologies. Its design, whilst engineered specifically to the requirements of the Wheatstone project can also be used on other projects with pipelines of varying diameters. The installation buoyancy will be manufactured at the company’s new 20,000m2 composites syntactic foam plant in Henderson, Western Australia.
Matrix’s CEO Aaron Begley said Matrix is thrilled to have secured the Allseas contract for installation buoyancy which will be used on the Chevron operated Wheatstone Project. “The contract shows that local companies can win work on major energy and resources projects if they are competitive on a global scale.”
“As the only manufacturer of subsea buoyancy systems in the southern hemisphere, Matrix operates out of the world’s largest, most technically advanced composite syntactic foam plant. This allows us to manufacture greater quantities of high quality product within shorter timeframes.
Delivery times are also reduced when supplying local operators such as Allseas or clients based in Asia. At Matrix, we also invest heavily in intellectual property which gives us a further competitive advantage in regards to product innovation and differentiation”.
Matrix has, and continues to supply a number of Australian based oil and gas projects with a range of buoyancy products, composite drilling and completions centralisers, and cryogenic insulation for LNG plants.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, April 11, 2013; Image: Chevron