Inpex completes Ichthys subsea installations

Inpex has completed the installation of subsea infrastructure for the extraction of gas and condensate from the Ichthys gas field, offshore Australia.

Inpex said on Friday that the final 49 kilometers of umbilicals and flying leads were laid on Thursday.

The last subsea network placement was spread across a 400 square kilometer area of the Ichthys Field, in the Browse Basin, about 220 kilometers offshore Western Australia.

Ichthys Project Managing Director, Louis Bon, said: “Since October 2014, hundreds of people have worked offshore without any significant safety incidents to install the Ichthys LNG Project’s 133,000-tonne subsea network.

“Carrying out this work more than 200 kilometers out to sea in water depths of around 250 meters involves substantial planning and logistical challenges to manage crew changes and equipment transportation.”

Inpex said that a 110-meter high riser support structure, five manifolds, 139 kilometers of flowlines, 49 kilometers of umbilicals and flying leads, 2,640 tonnes of production and MEG spools, five subsea distribution units and a subsea distribution hub were included in the subsea gathering system.

Subsea installation finalization means that the project was now ready for the arrival of the central processing facility (CPF) and floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, currently being commissioned in South Korea.

Once all commissioning activities in the South Korean shipyards are finished, the offshore facilities will be towed to the Ichthys field and moored for their 40-year operational life by 40,000 tonnes of chain secured to more than 25,000 tonnes of foundation piles.

The Ichthys LNG project consists of three parts. It incorporates offshore facilities off the Western Australian coast, onshore processing facilities in the Northern Territory, and an 890-kilometer pipeline to unite them.

Inpex added that a remaining umbilical would be installed during the CPF and FPSO hook-up campaign.