Gas Export Pipeline News

Offshore installation contractor Allseas has made progress on the installation of the pipeline for Santos’ Barossa Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) project offshore Australia.Allseas’ Audacia pipelay vessel has installed her largest ever PLET in S-mode, concluding several years of in-house engineering, fabrication and testing, the Swiss-based contractor said.Due to the weight of the pipeline end termination structure, Allseas’ production crew had to install it separately to the connector head.Audacia vessels is being supported with four other vessels - Fortitude…

Santos has issued a statement after the decision of the Federal Court of Australia on November 15 ruling that pipelay activities can commence on an 86-kilometer section of pipeline for the Barossa Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) – but not south of kilometre point 86 (KP86).This southern section would pass to the west of the Tiwi Islands.The Court has set December 4, 2023 as the date of commencement of the hearing of application brought by Jikilaruwu traditional owner Simon Munkara and…

FPSO leasing company BW Offshore said Thursday that the hull of BW Opal, one of the largest FPSO hulls ever built and destined for Santos' Barossa gas project in Australia, had set sail from a yard in South Korea and was en route to Singapore for topside integration."On October 28, 2023, at 11:30 local time, the newbuild hull for the BW Opal FPSO, which is based on BW Offshore’s RapidFramework concept, started tow from the SK Oceanplant (SKOP) yard in South Korea, to the integration shipyard in Singapore…

A huge Russian gas vessel, designed to safeguard supplies to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, has returned to the Baltic Sea region, tracking data showed on Wednesday, amid tensions over Ukraine and concerns about gas supplies to Europe.The Refinitiv Eikon data showed the Marshal Vasilevskiy - a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) which can also act as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel - visited the Belgian port Zeebrugge where it loaded 163,800 cubic metres of LNG on Jan. 20 and is now near Kaliningrad.The ship's main role is to supply LNG to Kaliningrad, which is separated from Russia's mainland and sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

Windfall revenues from high European gas prices mean Russia's Gazprom will not start pumping gas through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline before certification and it will not press Germany to speed up the process, two sources said.Pumping gas without the German approval would only incur a modest fine, but as Germany gets new political leadership and Russia's ties with the West are severely strained, a source at Gazprom said it was content to wait."We don't want to seek faster approval for the pipeline.

Offshore safety equipment provider VIKING has said it has won a contract with FPSO supplier BW Offshore to deliver has selected VIKING Norsafe free-fall lifeboats, daughter craft, and davits for a large FPSO project which will operate off northern Australia.While VIKING did not share the exact name of the FPSO project, this is most likely the Barossa FPSO BW Offshore is building for deployment at Santos' Barossa project.The safety equipment provider said that the primary means of evacuation from the FPSO will be three VIKING Norsafe GES-50 Mk.

Energy giant BP has taken its first oil from the Clair Ridge mega-project in the U.K. North Sea in a “major milestone” that is the culmination of many years of work.Clair Ridge, the second phase of the development of the Clair Field, 75 kilometers west of Shetland, is one of the biggest developments in the history of the basin, requiring huge investments in new platforms and pipelines in harsh waters west of Shetland.Clair Ridge is BP’s sixth major project start-up in 2018 following seven last year, which are expected to increase the company’s production by 900K boe/day by 2021. It has an estimated seven billion barrels of hydrocarbons.According to a press release from the British multinational oil and gas company…

MODEC, Inc. subsidiary MODEC International Inc. has been awarded a contract by ConocoPhillips Australia, as operator of the Barossa joint venture, for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for Australian waters.Under the contract, MODEC will participate in the FEED on a competitive basis against a JV of two other contractors.Barossa is an offshore gas and light condensate project that proposes to provide a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility. The offshore development concept includes subsea production system and gas export pipeline as well as the FPSO, located approximately 300 kilometers north of Darwin, Australia.

UK-based energy services company Wood Group has been awarded a new contract by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to support the Lingshui 17-2 gas development in the Qiongdongnan basin of the South China Sea. Subsea and flow assurance services will be provided under the contract, which is effective immediately and will be supported by Wood Group’s offices in Perth, Australia and London. An independent review for the development’s subsea production system design and a special study and design for its gas export pipeline will be delivered. Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood Group’s Specialist Technical Solutions business, said: “We are ideally positioned to support this significant Asia Pacific development with our global deepwater expertise and broad subsea capabilities.

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Tuesday that production and exports of liquefied natural gas from Qatar have not been affected by rising diplomatic tensions in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on Monday cut ties with Qatar, accusing the country of supporting extremism. Qatar denies the allegations. The growing diplomatic rift has raised concerns about global access to Qatar's LNG, especially after some regional ports in the Persian Gulf said they would not accept Qatari-flagged vessels. Commodities traders have grown concerned Qatar's LNG could be barred from Saudi Arabia or from traversing Egypt's Suez Canal, though so far no limitations have been imposed.

Sound Energy, the European/Mediterranean focused upstream gas company, is pleased to provide the following update on its Moroccan and Italian gas portfolio. Further to the recently announced signatures with Schlumberger of both the strategic partnership across Europe and Africa and the Field Management Agreement specifically on Tendrara, the Company has now signed a Letter of Intent with Entrepose Drilling Morocco for the supply of a HH300 rig for the first two wells on the licence (which are expected to be back to back). The Company, post the recently announced transaction with Schlumberger, will retain operatorship and a 27.5% effective net working interest with a 20% effective net paying interest for the first well (increasing to 25% for the second and third wells).

DNV GL has secured a contract to provide in-service verification and classification services to a range of facilities at the Ichthys LNG project in Australia. The contract marks INPEX’s commitment to continue working with DNV GL as it prepares to transition from the project execution phase to the operational phase of the mega project. DNV GL has provided vendor inspection, verification and offshore classification support to the USD 34 billion venture since 2012. This latest contract will see DNV GL continue its expert support to the project as it transitions into operation in 2017. The primary scope of work includes in-service verification of the Ichthys facilities…

Offshore contractor Subsea 7 has been awarded a $150 million subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline (SURF) contract by Maersk Oil for the development of the Culzean field in the UK North Sea. The ultra-high pressure, high temperature field, one of the largest gas discoveries offshore UK, is located in Block 22/25 of the Central North Sea at a water depth of approximately 90 m. The contract scope includes project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a 22-in. diameter, 52-km gas export pipeline connected to the Central Area Transmission System (CATS), and a 3.6-km pipe-in-pipe (10-in. outer pipe and 6-in. inner pipe) providing insulation for the transportation of the condensate to the in-field Floating, Storage and Offloading facility (FSO).

After nearly two years of planning and development McDermott's team has achieved a first of a kind in the valve industry; creating the world’s largest forged body specialty valve, in collaboration with a valve manufacturer. The valves are destined for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project. “The Ichthys Project umbilical, riser and flowline infrastructure – which will be installed at the Ichthys Field offshore Western Australia - requires connection of the subsea riser base to the 42-inch gas export pipeline going to the onshore LNG processing facility…

Drydocks World said that Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) Toscana sailed away from Drydocks World – Dubai. The unit, formerly the 138,830-cbm LNG carrier Golar Frost, has been under conversion since June 2009 at Drydocks world Dubai yard for contractor Saipem and owner OLT. The LNG Carrier, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries was converted into a floating LNG receiving terminal of the FSRU type, and will be permanently moored off Livorno, Italy and connected to shore through a gas export pipeline. There are only a few such units in operation around the world.

Ocean Installer has been awarded an Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation (EPCI) contract for subsea installations and tie-in operations at the Statoil operated fields Gina Krog (former Dagny) and Eirin. The total contract value is approximately $85 million (U.S.), including options. The scope of work is part of the field development of the Gina Krogand Eirin fields and includes design, fabrication and subsea installation of Gas Export Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM), the oil export riser base, the tie-in spools and covers, as well as all associated remote tie-in operations. The work scope related to the Eirin field is included as an option due to the later project sanctioning schedule for this development.

BP and partners start production of oil/gas from the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea, one of a series of new major upstream projects. “The start-up of Skarv is a key operational milestone for BP, adding new production from one of our core higher-margin areas,” said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive. The Skarv field is approximately 210 kilometres west of the Norwegian coast in water depths of approximately 350-450 metres. Discovered in 1998, the field has an estimated ultimate recovery of around 100 million barrels of oil and condensate and over 1.5 trillion cubic feet of rich gas. The field development includes a new highly-advanced FPSO (floating production…

Pipeline engineering specialist, STATS Group, has completed an isolation project on a 16” subsea pipeline in the Dutch sector of the North Sea on behalf of Wintershall Noordzee BV. The isolation enabled the client to disconnect a flexible gas export pipeline so it could be replaced with a new rigid gas export pipeline. STATS deployed its Tecno Plug  tool for the isolation which prevented a costly depressurisation of the main trunk line, and reduced environmental impact, costs and production losses.

The Greater Stella Area (GSA) development is located in the North Sea, 280 kilometers East-Southeast of Aberdeen, Scotland at a water depth of approximately 90 meters. Vessels from the Technip fleet will be used for the offshore campaign, including the Skandi Arctic and the Wellservicer. Ithaca Energy (UK) Ltd is developing the GSA, centred on the Stella and Harrier fields as a stand-alone development utilizing its own floating production vessel. ◦    Installation of the mooring system to the production platform and design and installation of five-slot mid water arch. Technip’s operating center in Aberdeen will execute the contract, which is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2013.

Chevron Corporation announce that its U.K. subsidiary has entered front-end engineering and design (FEED) on the Rosebank oil and gas project in the West of Shetland region. The Chevron-operated Rosebank project is located approximately 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of the Shetland Islands, in water depths of approximately 3,700 feet (1,100 meters). The project will include a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, production and water injection wells, subsea facilities, and a gas export pipeline. “Rosebank is an important project for Chevron and the West of Shetland region, which holds a significant portion of the U.K.’s undeveloped oil and gas resources,” said Brenda Dulaney, managing director, Chevron Upstream Europe.

The Ichthys development revolves around the construction of a new 42-inch deep sea natural gas pipeline from the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin 880 kilometers to Darwin onshore. The pipeline will run through the Darwin harbor, requiring dredging services in the near shore area, rock installation and the construction of a landfall. Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) based in The Netherlands, has received a letter of award from Saipem (Portugal) which requires Boskalis to dredge an 18 kilometers pipeline trench in which the gas pipeline will be laid, a pipe-pull over a distance of approximately 3,000 meters and the installation of a protective layer of rock after the pipeline has been laid.

Inpex Corporation awarded Technip a flexible pipe supply lump sum contract for the Ichthys gas field in Australia. Inpex has novated this contract to McDermott as part of the overall subsea umbilical, riser, flow line EPCI contract. The Ichthys LNG project is a Joint Venture between Inpex (76 percent, the Operator) and Total (24 percent). Gas from the Ichthys field, in the Browse Basin approximately 200 kilometers offshore Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate. The 889 kilometers Ichthys gas export pipeline will transport production from the offshore central processing facility through a subsea pipeline to the onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, to be located at Blaydin Point, Darwin, Northern Australia.

Drydocks World - Dubai, a ship repair, conversion and new building yard and the flagship company of Drydocks World, announced that work is underway on its first ever Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) conversion project, known as the FSRU LIVORNO Project. The conversion of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier, Golar Frost into an FSRU, is being handled by the Main Contractor, Saipem, a leading international turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry and will be delivered to OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, a company operating in the Italian gas industry.