In 2012, Italian oil and gas contractor, Saipem, was selected to carry out works on the 890 km gas export offshore pipeline for the Inpex-led Ichthys LNG project in Australia.
The company started works on the 42-inch diameter pipeline, what is said was the longest subsea pipeline in the southern hemisphere and the third longest in the world, and completed the pipelay in November 2015, deploying its two vessels, the Semac 1 and Castorone, for the shallow water and deepwater sections, respectively.
In November last year, Inpex informed that the offshore section has been welded with the onshore section , declaring the pipeline ready to deliver gas from offshore Ichthys field to the project’s onshore facilities at Bladin Point near Darwin for processing.
The US$34 billion Ichthys project is expected to start production by the third quarter of 2017, at least that was the last official update from Inpex. Ichthys 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.
View the video of Saipem’s engagement on the Ichthys LNG gas export pipeline below.
LNG World News Staff