Halfwave wins Ichthys pipeline inspection deal

Oil and gas inspection services company Halfwave has been awarded a contract by Inpex for work on the Ichthys LNG Project offshore Australia.

Halfwave said that the long-term contract awarded by Inpex Australia was for base line subsea launch in-line inspection.

The scope of work includes a custom built 42″ acoustic resonance technology (ART) scan by Halfwave to inspect the subsea pipeline that requires a low flow subsea launch with high-speed inspection of the Ichthys 890 kilometer natural gas transmission pipeline.

The ART scan measures wall thickness by analysis of the resonant signal that is emitted from the target, which allows for a direct and accurate measurement of the target thickness.

ART is also used as the inspection technology on the ARTEMIS tool which is an ROV-mountable inspection tool developed by Halfwave for external inspection of subsea assets including rigid and flexible pipelines, flowlines, and risers.

The Ichthys LNG Project is located in the Ichthys Field within the northern Browse Basin about 220 kilometers north-west of Western Australia’s Kimberley coast, at the western edge of the Timor Sea.

During operations, the Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce up to 8.9 million tonnes of LNG and up to 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum and 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak, requiring an 890-kilometer pipeline to facilitate export.

Halfwave CEO, Paul Cooper, said: “Halfwave is very pleased with the award by Inpex and to be a part of the ground breaking Ichthys LNG Project.

“Halfwave ART capabilities are demonstrating that they are adding value by de-risking challenging inspections and providing market leading inspection performance.”

It is worth noting that both of project’s offshore facilities, the FPSO Ichthys Venturer and the CPF Ichthys Explorer, have already been moored at the field.