Kelvin Hughes supplies radars for Ichthys LNG

UK-based Kelvin Hughes said it has supplied 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. The FPSO will process and store condensate from the CPF and periodically offload stabilised condensate to shuttle carriers for export directly to market.

About 336 m in length, it has been designed to hold 1 MMbbl of condensate and will have the capacity to accommodate a workforce of up to 200 people.

The SBS-800 radars will be providing a combined security surface picture and operational field situational awareness and share the same capabilities of contemporary Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), according to the statement.

With its SharpEye™ technology, including X-Band frequency, pulse compression and Doppler processing, it is able to filter out sea and rain clutter without filtering out the targets of interest, leaving a clear and unambiguous radar picture even in the most severe conditions.

The design, integration and commissioning of the Inpex CPF and FPSO systems is being delivered by international VTS and platform protection system integrator Australian Maritime Systems (AMS).

This system compliments other LNG projects in Australia with AMS delivering the SBS 800 radars to provide situational awareness, on field operations coordination and security to the Chevron Wheatstone platform as well as several major onshore port VTS installations, the statement said.

The Ichthys project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum at the liquefaction plant being built near Darvin.

Image: Kelvin Hughes