Project Profile
Value: US$37 billion
Location: Browse Basin offshore of Western Australia, Australia
LNG: 8.9 million tonnes per year
LPG: 1.6 million tonnes per year
Condensate: 100,000 bpd at peak
Start-up year: March 2018
The project will see the development of an onshore LNG processing plant; the location has been selected on Blaydin Point on the Middle Arm Peninsula in Darwin. The gas from the Ichthys Field, in the Browse Basin offshore of Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and raw liquids, including condensate. The gas will then be exported to the onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 850km subsea pipeline. Ichthys will produce an initial 8.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG. onshore facilities will include a slug catcher, a treatment plant for liquids, and carbon dioxide removal.
- Phase One: two trains each produce 4.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG, 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum, plus 100,000 barrels of condensate per day.
- Phase Two: looks to raise output from the two trains to 5.5 million tonnes each (total 11 mtpa), and an increase in of LPG production, plus 127,000 of condensate per day.
INPEX awarded approval to commence construction on the accommodation village for the Ichthy’s liquefied natural gas project in Howard Springs. The village is being built to accommodate up to 2700 people but will have the capacity to house an additional 800 workers. In September 2015, the operator updated the project\'s features and production, which was initially expected to start toward the end of December 2016, is now expected to start in the third quarter of 2017 (July-September 2017). Meanwhile, INPEX will raise the annual LNG production capacity by approximately 6% to 8.9 MTPA from the initially planned 8.4 MTPA.
Operators:
INPEX Browse, Ltd.: Operator with 62.245% interest
Total E&P Australia: 30% interest
Tokyo Gas 1.575%
Osaka Gas 1.2%
Toho Gas 0.42%
JERA: 0.735% interest
CPC Corp: 2.625% interest
Kansai Electric Power: 1.2% interest
Contractors:
Wood Group: Subsea engineering services
Halfwave: Multiple in-line inspections
Machinemonitor: Electrical testing job
TRACE ( Joint Venture of Broadspectrum and Actemium): Maintenance services
HNZ Group: Search and rescue and medical evacuation services.
Regional Asset Maintenance Services: Contracted to to deliver general facilities maintenance.
Asset Guardian Solutions: Provide a software protection system. In 2015, contract to provide a process software management toolset that protects the integrity of process control software used to operate key oil and gas assets.
Atkins: Flow assurance contract
OEG Offshore: Secured a 5-year rental contract for the supply of offshore cargo units and helifuel tanks to support hook-up, commissioning and future production from the Ichthys LNG project. (April, 2017)
Bam Clough: Design and construction work
Biffi Italia: has shipped four EGR 50K electric actuators for installation, Biffi customized the actuators to operate 42-in. class 1500 quarter-turn ball valves
CB&I: Engineering, procurement, construction and pre-commissioning for non-cryogenic storage tanks for the Ichthys Project LNG facilities in Darwin
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co (DSME): Build Ichthys Venturer FPSO
CareFlight: Aeromedical support contract
Consortium for platform FEED contract and offshore facilities FEED:
Aker Solutions
AMEC
J P Kenny
Consortium for initial FEED and FEED contract for gas processing plant:
JGC (Japan Gasoline Corporation)
Chiyoda Corp
KBR
Consortium for insulation contract:
AusGroup
Cuel
Empired Ltd: Supply, install, configure and manage the Coreworx project information and cost control system
Granherne (KBR): Conceptual design
GE Oil & Gas: Supply equipment and services
Intergraph: SmartPlant Enterprise solutions
Joint Venture for 1st phase of the Asset Integrity and Maintenance build:
Transfield Services
WorleyParsons
Joint Venture for EPC contract:
KBR
JGC
Chiyoda Corp
Joint Venture for Pipeline Coating:
ShawCor Ltd (Australia)
Mitsui & Co (Australia)
Joint Venture for Software Solution:
Intergraph
Hydratight
Skire
Monadelphous Group: Carry out engineering, procurement and construction work on the gas export pipeline
Phusion: Data Management Contractor
Sea Trucks Group: accommodation support services
Sumitomo Corporation: Supply of high strength large diameter welded (UOE) line pipes
SKF (Australia): Supply magnetic bearings to 2 new major liquefied natural gas projects
Technip: Commissioning contract
TechnipFMC: Riserless light well intervention services and two Schilling Robotics remote operated vehicles. (January, 2017)
Toll: will construct and operate the base, on a four-and-a-half hectare site in Darwin’s East Arm industrial precinct
Yokogawa: Control and safety system FEED contract
Vicinay: Supply anchor chains for the mooring lines
JKC Australia LNG Pty Ltd (JKC): Contracted to deliver the engineering procurement and construction of the onshore LNG facilities including the gas processing plant at Blaydin Point
AG&P ALE Ventures Pty Ltd.:
- Contract to deploy its proprietary mobile port solution, the Hydro Deck, to deliver the first modules to the Ichthys LNG (liquefied natural gas) Project. Hydro Deck will offload more than 200 large, pre-fabricated modules from sea to ground, overcoming Darwin’s twice-a-day, up to eight metre tidal variations.
- Contracted by CUEL Limited to perform the load-out, site move, and weighing of total 151 modules of interconnect pipe racks, jetty pipe racks and slug catcher area and pig receiver PAU’s. Weight of the modules varied from 24 tons to 1,928 tons, with the operation completed on January 14 for the 30th voyage from CUEL’s construction yard at Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, to Bladin Point in Darwin, Australia. (January 2016)
McDermott International, Inc: Contract to deliver the riser support structure (RSS)
- Run a ROV pipeline profiling survey using the Kongsberg Mesotech M3 Sonar multibeam echosounder. (July, 2016)
- McDermott’s DLV2000 performed the lift of the subsea 42-inch gas export tie-in spool, measuring 75 metres in length and weighing 370 tons, 450 km of the coast of Western Australia. (September, 2016)
Saipem: Pipeline contract using the deepwater installation vessel Castorone, which will kick off the deepwater pipelay of 889 kilometre-long gas export pipeline (GEP) for Ichthys project. The vessel will lay the remaining 718 kilometre offshore section of the 42-inch diameter GEP following the successful completion in November 2014 of the 164 kilometre shallow water section by the SEMAC-1.
Petrofac: Integrity and Maintenance Programme Development contract by INPEX for the Ichthys LNG Project in Australia. Petrofac’s asset performance management consultancy Plant Asset Management will complete the work over the next 20 months. It will be one of the largest global projects awarded to Plant Asset Management, involving an integrated gas chain covering both upstream and midstream assets. Prior to start-up of the offshore and onshore facilities Plant Asset Management will deliver a fit for purpose integrity and maintenance program.
Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies: Contract for delivery of subsea structures for the gas export pipeline project of the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project. The scope of work involves Adjustable Pipe Support structures (APS) to the pipeline. The APS\'s will support the pipeline and bring it to the required height and orientation at the end termination. KonGSBERG will do Engineering, Procurement and Construction and delivery while Saipem will do the installation. The construction is being undertaken in Henderson, Western Australia. The design commenced in January 2015 and the APS will be tested and ready for installation by the end of July 2015.
Atlas Knowledge: Contract by Inpex to provide training for production workers. The multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement will see the international learning technology company develop and deliver custom-made training modules and online 3D models of the project’s onshore and offshore production facilities; as well as in-depth process training for the specific systems and equipment used at each asset. The e-learning will provide all personnel in the integrated operations team with an understanding of the plant, equipment, materials and their associated hazards. Facility-specific modules will take production technicians on an interactive journey to the process area they are assigned to.
Kelvin Hughes: Contract to supply two SBS-800 SharpEye™ series radars for the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project located 220km offshore of Western Australia in the Browse basin. The radars will be installed on both the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel and the Central Processing Facility (CPF). The CPF and FPSO will be stationed about 3.5 km apart on the Ichthys field. The FPSO and CPF will be communicatively linked to each other through a dedicated fibre optic connection, the SBS 800 radars provide sensor data for the SAAB V3000 VTS core, according to a statement by Kelvin Hughes. The CPF is permanently moored to the seabed for the life of the project.
Australian Maritime Systems (AMS): Design, integration and commissioning of the Inpex CPF and FPSO systems delivery
Subsea 7 S.A.: Four contracts by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd and INPEX Operations Australia Pty Ltd, for the engineering, procurement and construction of an Emergency Pipeline Repair System (EPRS) to be used offshore Australia. This EPRS project consists of developing a process of repair, including both equipment and contingency procedures, to support the Chevron-operated pipelines and INPEX\'s Ichthys pipeline off the North and Northwest coasts of Australia. Project management, engineering and procurement will commence immediately from Subsea 7\'s office in Perth, Australia, with support from Subsea 7\'s intervention and autonomous system specialists in Aberdeen. Site integration testing is due to be completed by 2017.
DNV GL: Contract to provide in-service verification and classification services to a range of facilities at the Ichthys LNG project in Australia. DNV GL has provided vendor inspection, verification and offshore classification support to the venture since 2012. The primary scope of this work includes in-service verification of the Ichthys facilities; the central processing facility (CPF), floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO), subsea production system, gas export pipeline, onshore combined cycle power plant and onshore LNG plant. DNV GL will also provide in-service classification of the CPF and the FPSO hulls.
Xodus Group: Project to deliver a suite of more than 40 offshore operating manuals for the Ichthys LNG project. Specialists from Xodus Group’s Perth operation are drafting these key training and reference materials to be used by the offshore operations crew.
Hima: Contracted by Inpex to deliver safety instrumented systems (SIS) and the fire and gas system (F&G). Hima’s scope of supply includes delivery of the pre-FID system development and standard application design and testing. (December 2015)
Svitzer:
- 10-year towage and marine services deal for the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project in the port of Darwin. Svitzer Australia will provide four Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) escort tugs to assist LNG, LPG and condensate carriers into and out of the Port of Darwin once the project’s onshore processing facility is up and running in late 2017. The contract includes an option to extend the towage and marine services deal up to a maximum of 19 years. (December 2015)
- Provision of ASD tugs from Sanmar Shipyards to service the Ichthys LNG project in Darwin. The RAstar 2800 terminal tugs will have an 80-ton bollard pull and will be equipped with render/recovery winch, aft winch, FIFI 1 and LNG package. Delivery of the two newbuilds is scheduled for 2017 when they will join the two existing vessels in assisting LNG, LPG and condensate carriers at the port of Darwin. Besides towage, tugs will provide safety standby, emergency and environment incident response, firefighting and salvage operations within the port. In August 2015, Svitzer ordered six RAstar 2800-E Class ASD tugs from Sanmar Shipyards with delivery starting in the fourth quarter 2016. (January 2016)
Aqualis Offshore: Aqualis Offshore, a marine and offshore engineering consultancy, has signed a contract to provide position keeping services for the installation of the Ichthys LNG Project FPSO. Under the contract, Aqualis Offshore will manage the position keeping procedure and provide position keeping masters during the offshore operations. The contract value is not disclosed (June 2016).
Intertek: a three-year deal during which Intertek will provide local and global inspection, expediting and auditing services to the Ichthys LNG project throughout the remainder of construction activities and also during operation of the facilities and pipeline. (June, 2016)
Monadelphous: a contract for electrical and instrumentation works for the product loading jetty at the Ichthys project onshore LNG facilities in Darwin in the Northern Territory. (July, 2016)
Amec Foster Wheeler: A consultancy contract. (September, 2016)
- provision of a team of production and maintenance assessors to carry out competency assessments for the Ichthys Operations and Maintenance teams across all project assets.
Joint Venture: To provide offshore helicopter transportation services
HNZ Group
PHI
Farstad Shipping: Contracted for the anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel, Far Sword, for an additional 17 months starting from March 31, 2018. (December 2016)
Maritime Union: Work arrangements deal
Sparrows Group: Secured a three-year contract to deliver fixed crane maintenance and lifting and rigging services for the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project in Australia. (March, 2017)
Monadelphous Group: Secured offshore maintenance services contract for the Ichthys LNG Project.
Subcontractors:
AusGroup : Hired to supply rope access trade services
Monadelphous: Structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation work. (June 2017)
Cape Plc: Insulation and coatings services
AG&P: Modularise 26 local electrical rooms (LER) and local instrumentation rooms for JKC JV
Atlas Copco: Turbocompressors to be installed
Air Products: Supply of the liquefaction technology and main cryogenic heat exchangers for two process trains awarded by JKC JV
ABB: Contract to supply power technologies and medium-voltage drive systems for the new Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project’s processing plant
Aker Solutions: Contract by Technip to supply a Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) reclamation plant for the Ichthys LNG Project
BAM Clough: Design and construction Product Loading Jetty awarded by JKC JV
First Subsea Ltd.: contract from Saipem Portugal Comercio Maritomo Sociedade Unipresso Lda to supply a 42-in. pipeline recovery tool (PRT) for the gas export pipeline on Ichthys
Fugro Spatial Solutions: dimensional control survey subcontract by JKC Aus.
Global Power Group: Design and supply of three utility package steam generators awarded by joint venture CH2M HILL & UGL Engineering Pty
Joint Venture for civil construction works awarded by JKC JV:
John Holland
Macmahon Holdings Ltd
A 50/50 Joint Venture for construction of a Combined Cycle Power Plant: ConTRACT TERMINATED Jan, 2017
UGL Limited
CH2M HILL
A joint venture for O&M contract by JKC JV:
Leighton Contractors
Morris Corporation
Joint Venture for EPC to deliver a network of four massive cryogenic tanks awarded by JKC JV:
Laing O’Rourke
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Kentz Corporation: Underground electrical and instrumentation package. US$640m contract to the UGL Kentz JV for the structural, mechanical and piping (SMP) construction package.
Laing O Rourke: Deliver the Accommodation Village awarded by JKC JV
Leighton Contractors: EPC contract by JKC Australia LNG Pty Ltd for the Temporary Site Facilities Works
Matrix Composites & Engineering: will supply nearly 1,000 tonnes of production buoyancy for two of McDermott’s mid depth buoys (MDBs) which are some of the largest syntactic structures
Monadelphous Group: erection of piping, mechanical and structural steel
SDV Australia: Construction of downstream LNG plant facilities
Severn Glocon: Supply 536 engineered control valves for the processing plant
Skilled Group: Manning services for Saipem
Yokogawa Australia Pty. Ltd: Supply the control systems for the LNG carrier
AGC (through its subsidiary company MAS Australasia Pty Ltd): Contract to provide scaffolding assets comprising management, design and engineering, scaffolding material supply and installation services to the LNG process and inlet areas at the Ichthys Project onshore LNG Facilities at Blaydin Point in Darwin, Northern Territory
Matrix Composites & Engineering: Supply of the production buoyancy (contracted by McDermott who is the appointed main contractor for the subsea umbilical, riser, flowline)
SAL Heavy Lift (through wholly owned SAL Heavy Lift Singapore): Contract with BAM Clough Joint Venture for shipping and deployment of LNG and LPG product loading platforms for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project, with the LNG platform weighing in at a hefty 1,080 tonnes with dimensions of 40 x 39 x 8 metres
Flexible Engineered Solutions International: Supplied Diverless Bend Stiffener Connectors for the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel working in the Ichthys LNG project
Francis Brown Ltd: Worked for FES and produced 50 umbilical connectors for the project involving a large amount of submerged arc welding, something in which the company is now an acknowledged expert
Sarens Group: Contract by JKC Australia LNG, a joint venture between JGC, KBR and Chiyoda, to perform sea lifting works for the Ichthys LNG project’s onshore LNG facilities, performing two major installation works:
- The loading, transportation and installation of 3 jetty modules with the heaviest one weighing up to 472 tons. These modules will be picked-up from the module offloading facility (MOF) and installed on the jetty head by a 1250 tons capacity CC6800 Terex Demag crawler crane mounted on a barge;
- The loading, transportation and installation of 14 jetty structures. These structures are being assembled on the East Arm Port and will be loaded by a 350 tons Liebherr LR1350 onto a second barge, then transported to the jetty head and installed with the CC6800 Terex Demag which is mounted on the barge.
AGC Meisei: US$202 million contract by JKC Australia LNG for the onshore facilities of the Ichthys LNG project. The JV was formed by the AusGroup unit AGC Industries and Meisei Industrial. The subcontract scope of work includes; painting, surface protection, fireproofing and insulation works for lead contractor JKC. Work is expected to commence in March 2015 and will continue for 22 months until December 2016
Neptune Marine Services Limited (Neptune): Contract for the structural grouting of the Riser Support Structure (RSS) under contract to a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. (“McDermott”) for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project. Following completion of the RSS scope of work, Neptune completed the initial campaign of subsea grouting of the scour protection systems (SPS). The SPS were designed, fabricated and installed to the subsea structures prior to installation.
Another contract was won in April 2016 for the 350 concrete mattresses to McDermott Australia for the giant Ichthys LNG project. The mattresses will be utilised for flowlines walking mitigation on the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project. The mattresses will be manufactured at Neptune’s yard in Batam, Indonesia, each weighing approximately 60 tonnes. Work on the construction of the units commenced in April 2016.
Nexans: US$12.8 million contract by Samsung Heavy Industries to supply about 2,200 km of halogen-free instrumentation and electrical cables for the Inpex’s Ichthys central processing facility. Delivery of the cables, which will power the CPF, has already started and will be completed by the end of 2015. The cables are being manufactured at Nexans’ Kukdong plant in Jincheon, Korea.
Applus+: US$17.33 deal for the Ichthys LNG project’s onshore LNG facilities. The contracts were awarded by Laing O’Rourke, Monadelphous Engineering and UGLKentz JV. Under the three contracts, Applus+ RTD will provide inspection engineering, asset integrity management and advanced non-destructive testing services on two LNG tanks, one LPG tank, one butane tank and two OBSL and ISBL mechanicals. Applus+ RTD’s Rayscan Tankscan will be used throughout the three-year contracts, which is the first time the technology will be deployed in Australia, and only the second time worldwide. The digital radiographic inspection system can complete a full inspection of LNG storage tanks in a single scan, producing a high-quality image of each weld. Applus+ RTD will provide maintenance for the anticipated 40-year life cycle of the plant.
Civmec: Contract warded by joint venture partners UGL Resources and Kentz, Civmec will send a project team to Darwin to provide refractory installation services to the Ichthys LNG onshore facilities. The scope of work on the Inpex-operated LNG project includes installation of high-alumina refractory bricks and monolithics, and thermal dryout. (October, 2012)
AOS: Contractor for the 2014-2015 campaign on the Inpex Pipelay Program. AOS’ four X-Bow Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) the Ocean Turquoise-1, Sea Spear, Sea Swift and Sea Frost, were chartered by Saipem to support the work on the Ichthys gas export pipeline. AOS’ work scope consisted of transporting pipes between Indonesia and Saipem’s Pipe Lay vessel Castorone. (December, 2015)
Hydratight: Contract from Subsea 7 to supply pipeline connector solution for their Emergency Pipeline Repair System (EPRS) project in Australia. The contract will see Hydratight deliver its MORGRIP mechanical connector. (December, 2015)
Sanmar Shipyards: Order of ASD tugs to to service the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project in Darwin, Australia. The RAstar 2800 terminal tugs will have an 80-ton bollard pull and will be equipped with render/recovery winch, aft winch, FIFI 1 and LNG package. Delivery of the two newbuilds is scheduled for 2017 when they will join the two existing vessels in assisting LNG, LPG and condensate carriers at the port of Darwin. Besides towage, tugs will provide safety standby, emergency and environment incident response, firefighting and salvage operations within the port. In August 2015, Svitzer ordered six RAstar 2800-E Class ASD tugs from Sanmar Shipyards with delivery starting in the fourth quarter 2016. (January, 2016)
Clough:
- Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (SHI) has awarded a contract to Clough, for hook-up services on the Ichthys LNG Project Central Processing Facility (CPF) named Ichthys Explorer. The scope of work includes the preparation and execution of offshore hook-up activities and assistance to commissioning. Work will commence in the first quarter of 2016 with the mobilisation of engineering and technical teams to the SHI fabrication yard located in Geoje, Korea before moving offshore in the Browse Basin, 200 km off the northern coastline of Western Australia. (February, 2016)
- Awarded a second contract for Ichthys LNG Project Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). The scope of work includes the preparation and execution of offshore hook-up and assistance to commissioning. Work will commence in the first quarter of 2016 with the mobilisation of engineering and technical teams to the DSME fabrication yard located in Geoje, Korea before moving offshore in the Browse Basin, 200 km off the northern coastline of Western Australia. (February, 2016)
- Selected again by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to provide hook-up services for the FPSO. (April, 2016)
Heerema Marine Contractors Australia (HMC): Contract awarded by McDermott, completed the installation of 140 kilometres of rigid subsea flowlines for Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project. The contract, awarded in 2012, includes the transportation and installation of flowlines, production flowlines, integrated pipeline structures, large subsea structures, a subsea riser support structure, and moorings for floating processing facilities-FPSO and CPF. (February, 2016)
VWS MPP Systems (subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies): Supply a Macro Porous Polymer Extraction water purification (MPPE) unit. (2013)
EnerMech: Commissioning job.
Whittens: (Sub-Subcontractor) - Hired to complete the closing of the Temporary Construction Opening (TCO), and insulation of the ceiling and walls across four cryogenic tanks.