Benthic to carry out Scarborough campaign for Woodside

Benthic, a global geosciences company, has been awarded a contract by Woodside for an offshore geotechnical investigation at the Scarborough project in the North Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia. 

Scarborough upstream concept schematic / Image source: Woodside

Benthic said on Monday that the contract includes the provision of geotechnical services required by Woodside to investigate geohazard risks in the region of the Pluto escarpment, geophysical interpretation and soil testing for engineering parameters along the pipeline route, and soil sampling and testing for engineering parameters in support of the infield facility, structures, and drilling.

Benthic’s PROD2 (portable remotely operated drill) operating from the MMA Valour, will perform in-situ testing and sampling in water depths up to 1,400 meters. The MMA Valour is a multi-purpose platform supply vessel, capable of ROV support and project tasks, as well as standard platform and drilling rig supply.

The 55-day campaign was expected to start in January 2019 and reach completion by the end of March.

Chris Howerter, Vice President of Operations stated, “Benthic’s equipment was specifically designed to collect high quality soils from this region. Our project teams’ experience working in the area leaves us very confident the campaign will be completed to Woodside’s complete satisfaction.”

Earlier this year, Woodside also awarded contracts for front-end engineering design activities for the proposed Scarborough project to McDermott, Subsea Integration Alliance, Saipem, and Intecsea.

Woodside’s preferred concept for development of the 7.3 Tcf (2C 100%) Scarborough gas resource (Woodside 75%) is through new offshore facilities connected by an approximately 430 km export pipeline to the Burrup Peninsula with onshore processing at the expanded Pluto LNG facility.