Nexans to power Ichthys offshore platform in Australia

Nexans, a France-based supplier of cables and umbilicals for the international oil and gas industry, has won a contract to supply halogen-free cabling for the Ichthys offshore platform in Australia.

The contract, worth approximately 11.5 million Euro, was awarded by Samsung Heavy Industries, which is constructing the Central Processing Platform for the Inpex-operated offshore gas development project.

Nexans will supply about 2,200 km of halogen-free instrumentation and electrical cables for the INPEX-operated Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant near Darwin, Australia.

The Ichthys CPF will be the world’s largest semi-submersible platform. Its large, floating central processing facility is a column-stabilised, offshore semi-submersible production unit supporting a hydrocarbon processing system and utilities, as well as living quarters for about 200 people. It will power the plant and control the compressor that liquefies the gas.

Gas from the Ichthys field, approximately 200 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate. The gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889 km subsea pipeline. It is expected to produce 389.5 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per year.

In-Koo Kang, Chief Executive Officer of Nexans in Korea, said, “We are pleased to be a part of this large project with Samsung Heavy Industries. The key to the success of contract was Nexans Kukdong’s ability to satisfy the customer’s needs, as well as our demonstration of good collaboration between individual Nexans Units. It reinforces Nexans’ position as the leading cable manufacturer for offshore projects. We are looking forward to have more opportunities working globally with Nexans teams.”

The Ichthys LNG Project will be in operation from 2016. Delivery already started and will be completed by the end of this year. Cables are being manufactured at Nexans’ Kukdong plant in Jincheon, Korea. The main CPF is being constructed at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.