The Inpex-led Ichthys LNG project’s 890 kilometer gas export pipeline is ready to deliver gas from offshore Ichthys field to the project’s onshore facilities at Bladin Point near Darwin for processing.
According to the statement, the offshore and onshore sections of the pipeline have been welded together.
The 42-inch diameter pipeline is the longest subsea pipeline in the southern hemisphere and the third longest subsea pipeline in the world, the statement reads.
Ichthys project managing director Louis Bon said that “building the pipeline involved multiple movements of 73,000 individual 42 inch diameter, concrete coated pipe joints, with each pipe joint weighing approximately 26 tonnes.”
He added that with the welding of the two parts, the project is one step closer to physically connecting the onshore plant near Darwin to the offshore facilities which will be permanently moored in the Ichthys field for the 40-year life of the project.
The US$34 billion Ichthys project is scheduled to start production by the third quarter of 2017, and is set to have an annual LNG production capacity 8.9 mtpa.
The project is a joint venture between Inpex, major partner Total, Taiwan’s CPC Corporation and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.
LNG World News Staff