INPEX unloads Ichthys modules

INPEX announced today the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project is preparing for the next phase of its onshore construction effort, following the unloading of its first large pre-fabricated modules on June 29.

The modules will be used to construct the Project’s LNG processing facilities at Bladin Point near Darwin, Australia. Ichthys LNG Project Managing Director Louis Bon said the safe arrival of the first of more than 200 modules was an important milestone for the Project and marked the next phase for its onshore construction effort.

“Much of the work we have been doing to transform Bladin Point has been leading up to this event – we have been setting the foundations to prepare for their arrival and installation at site,” he said.

A modularised approach to construction is now common in Australia. For the Ichthys LNG Project, this approach involved having components of its onshore facilities assembled in modules at fabrication yards and tested before transporting them to site.

Bon said designing and constructing modules in this way was a key part of delivering the global project on schedule and on budget. Module unloading at MOF at Bladin Point, Darwin “The Ichthys LNG Project’s onshore facilities were designed so that some elements would be modularised while others could be stick-built on site in Darwin,” Bon said.

The Ichthys LNG Project’s pre-fabricated modules are being built at four yards in China, the Philippines and Thailand. Over the next 18 months, about 60 module shipments are scheduled to arrive in Darwin. The largest modules can weigh more than 6,000 tonnes. Transported on large, custom-made marine vessels, module shipments will travel past Darwin on the way to the Project’s module offloading facility (MOF) at Bladin Point. The MOF supports the offloading of the large modules and oversized equipment that is too large to be transported to site by road.

Pipeline installation begins

Also, INPEX yesterday announced that gas export pipeline installation works began at its Ichthys LNG Project on June 28, following the earlier arrival of the Saipem-operated, semi-submersible pipelay barge SEMAC-1 in the Northern Territory.

The Project’s 889 kilometre Gas Export Pipeline will connect the onshore processing facilities near Darwin to the Ichthys gas-condensate field in the Browse Basin, offshore Western Australia.

July 1, 2014