Last FPSO topsides lifted for Ichthys LNG project

The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project has reached another milestone by completing the last topsides lift on the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit on Friday, May 13, 2016. 

The lift occurred in the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) yard in Okpo, South Korea, marking a milestone in the integration phase for the project’s offshore facilities.

According to Inpex, this step also allows further progress of pre-commissioning and commissioning activities. Modules, pipe racks and equipment packages had now been lifted onto the hull of the FPSO, the company added.

“We are very proud that all heavy lifts, some weighing up to 4,800 tonnes, have been completed safely and with incredible precision,” Ichthys Project Managing Director Louis Bon said.

The FPSO topsides lifting operations started in April 2015 and were completed on early May 2016, with the final addition of the 450 tonne water treatment package.

Once complete, the vessel will be towed 5,600 nautical miles to the Ichthys Field in the Browse Basin, offshore Western Australia for offshore hook up, commissioning and start-up.

Inpex also recently completed the offshore mooring system pre-lay in the Browse Basin which will secure the project’s two offshore facilities—the central processing facility (CPF) and FPSO facility—on the Ichthys Field seabed for at least 40 years of continuous operation.

The FPSO will be permanently moored to the seabed about 3.5 kilometres from the project’s CPF processing and storing condensate from it and periodically offloading stabilised condensate to shuttle carriers for export directly to the market.

The 336 by 59 metre FPSO is designed to hold more than one million barrels of condensate in its hull and will accommodate a workforce of up to 200 people.

Inpex stated that the Ichthys LNG Project was 81 percent complete in December and the project was on schedule for first production during the third quarter of 2017.