‘Energy’ is the driving theme of the 21st century and the industry is on a constant quest to identify, create, plan, engineer, and exploit new ways that will help us to secure the energy future for generations to come.
There are many discussions going on and the global community struggles to manage energy projects along the triangle of what is ecological, economical, and technically feasible. In the world’s energy mix liquid natural gas (LNG) exploitations are gaining importance. LNG is a natural gas that is super-chilled to -161°C. At this temperature, it converts to liquid form and becomes easier to transport in tankers and easier to store. LNG takes up only about 1/600th of the volume occupied by the methane in its gaseous form. As a substitute for coal in power generation, LNG offers significant global environmental benefits. For every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the production, liquefaction, and transport of LNG, up to nine tonnes of emissions are avoided in consumer countries when LNG is substituted for coal in electricity generation.
2020 vision
Australia is currently the world’s fifth largest LNG exporter and the Australian petroleum industry is aiming to make this country the world’s first or second largest LNG exporter by 2020. The industry is targeting production of at least 60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2020.The country‘s first LNG project – the North West Shelf Venture (NWSV) – began shipping LNG in 1989.
The project has since grown to include five production units (or trains) and it now produces up to 16.3mtpa of LNG. The country’s second LNG development – Darwin LNG – began production in 2006. This one-train project produces up to 3.5mtpa. Australia‘s third LNG project ‘Pluto’ started production in April 2012. It has one 4.3mtpa production train but at least one additional train is being planned.
Seven large Australian LNG schemes are currently under construction. Four draw from gas fields in northern Western Australia (Gorgon, Prelude, Wheatstone and Ichthys) and three are in Queensland (Queensland Curtis LNG, Gladstone LNG and Australia Pacific LNG).
It’s the commercial mission of Steve Dillon, owner’s representative of BBC Chartering and in charge of busi-ness development in Asia and Oceania, to work this market creating beneficial business opportunities for clients in-volved in these projects. He states, “We like to support the industry on these challenges with service solutions delivered by BBC Chartering and our Project Division.
There is much to accomplish as Australia currently has about $200 billion worth of LNG projects on the drawing board.”
Infrastructure as a bottleneck
A lot of modularization is involved in the construction of infrastructure for Australian oil and gas projects, due to a general shortage of fabrication facilities and the remoteness of Australia‘s northwest. A lot of module fabrication work is undertaken in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia since there is no mandated local content. There is, however, a requirement to comply with specific levels of Australian industry participation in order to receive certain concessions.
The Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Perth is experiencing strong demand for its manufacturing capabilities as a result of Gorgon. AMC is a center for excellence in fabrication, assembly, maintenance, and technology servicing the marine, defense, oil and gas, and resource industry. Its common user facility (CUF) includes the world‘s most technologically advanced floating dock, self-propelled modular transporters to move vessels or infrastructure, a deepwater port, specialist load-out wharfs, extensive lay-down and assembly areas, and several state-of-the-art fabrication halls.
A CUF is planned also further north on the Pilbara coast to support projects such as Wheatstone and Browse.
Anketell Port and Port Hedland have been selected as potential locations for the facility which will include wharves, lay-down areas, and repair, maintenance and load-out facilities.Darwin is a well established port and does not suffer from the same infrastructure challenges as northwestern Australia; so, despite lobbying from the west, it was chosen by Inpex as the site for the onshore gas processing facilities of the Ichthys project. An 885-km (550-mi) subsea gas pipeline will link it to the offshore facilities.
CSG-LNG and floating LNG
Australia is a world leader in LNG innovation. The world’s first Coal Seam Gas to LNG projects are being developed in Queensland.
Australia also seems likely to become the first country in the world to host a floating LNG project. Shell Development Australia will use a specially designed ship - the largest floating structure ever built - with LNG production facilities to develop its Prelude gas field off the north coast of Western Australia. This project is expected to begin producing 3.5mtpa from 2016 or 2017.
LNG for road transport and gas storage
A small proportion of LNG is used as a diesel replacement fuel for heavy vehicles. Trucks that run on LNG require a special cryogenic fuel tank to keep the fuel chilled. LNG is highly compatible with diesel engines and is a clean-burning fuel. Its use in road transport is growing but because large fuel tanks are needed, LNG is not suitable for smaller vehicles and it is expected to remain a niche fuel. LNG for road transport is usually produced in small plants located near regional transport hubs. LNG can also be used as a way of storing gas for use in periods of high demand or interrupted supply.
Macedon Gas Project
The Macedon gas field is located in offshore production lease WA-42-L, located approximately 100km west of Onslow, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. BHP Billiton is Operator of the Macedon Project and has a 71.43% interest, with joint venture partner Apache North-west which has a 28.57% interest. The Macedon project involves four off-shore production wells supplying a wet gas pipeline to an onshore gas treatment plant to be constructed at Ashburton North, 17 kilometres south west of Onslow. The domestic gas plant will have a design capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet per day. A sales gas pipeline will be conn-ected to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline for sale to the domestic gas market in Western Australia.
Following the final investment decision announced in September 2010, Technip was awarded a contract for the engineering work and services related to procurement and construction management for BHP Billiton‘s Macedon Gas Field in May 2011. The contract covers the onshore facilities consisting of a gas plant and pipeline works which are scheduled to be completed in 2013.
McDermott wins Macedon SURF contract
In July 2011 Oilfield services firm McDermott International Inc. won the subsea contract from Technip for deepwater offshore engineering, construction and installation on the Macedon project. The SURF (Subsea, Umbilical, Riser and Flowlines) contract is McDermott‘s first SURF project in Australia. The work scope includes detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication, transportation and installation of a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long), 20-inch-diameter pipeline, as well as the installation of subsea umbilicals and flexible flowlines in waters measuring up to 591 feet (180 meters) deep.
BBC Chartering selected for Macedon transport project
It took twelve months of dedicated commercial lobbying by Steve Dillon, involving in depth discussions with McDermott’s regional HQ in Singapore then, with McDermott project management office located in Perth.
As a result, BBC Chartering was awarded the contract from McDermott for transporting subsea umbilicals and flexible flowlines. Roberto Frigeni, Executive Transport Engineering Officer, coordinated all technical aspects of this unique project following a turnkey approach for BBC Chartering’s Project Division.
The team around him was well aware of transporting one of the single longest offshore umbilicals to-date with a length of 65 km and a diameter of about 20cm. Mr. Frigeni said, “Loading and transporting cables of that magnitude is a delicate affair. It requires much attention to detail, a high level of commitment and a quality attitude to realize such a project successfully.” All of this is brought to the table by Wiebke Bürger, Volker Dietrich and Jens Gerken, the Macedon task force of Roberto Frigeni.
Tender Engineer Wiebke Bürger said, “It has been an exciting experience to work on a tender that would enable us to win a ‘first of its kind’ project for BBC Chartering and the Project Division.”
The team was asked to deliver a turnkey project coor-dinating all works throughout the process of planning, engineering, manufacturing, and executing the transport.
Ensuring the requirements are met, a marine warranty surveyor was involved helping the client to manage a high project quality. With the main umbilical’s weight of about 1,850mt the vessel’s longitudinal and structural strength needed to be diligently assessed to ensure the selected 7,650dwat vessel ‘BBC Nordland’ was suited to deliver the job.
The project team started with calculating and planning the required sea-fastening elements. Jens Gerken, BBC Chartering’s Naval Architect in charge said, “We felt a high level of responsibility to be involved in this project.
We needed to make sure all sea-fastening elements are designed sufficiently and worked the first time. We always kept the high value of the cargo and its importance for the Macedon Gas Project on the back of our minds.” The sea-fastening elements were manufactured in a workshop of ‘Halfwassen Hafendienst’, an experienced cargo service company based in Leer. Welding teams of ‘Halfwassen’ also installed the elements on board the ‘BBC Nordland’.
Delivering the job is key and Volker Dietrich, BBC Chartering’s Senior Port Captain, was the person in charge managing local interaction during loading and unloading operations. These operations had to be managed over three loading locations in Europe. In Drammen (Norway) the vessel took on the carousels, in Rosyth (UK) the umbilicals got spooled onboard, and in Newcastle (UK) the vessel loaded additional flexible flowlines.
The ‘BBC Nordland’ was discharged in Batam (Indonesia) where the umbilical was spooled over a triple banking operation onto McDermott’s ‘North Ocean 102’, a DP2 construction support vessel outfitted with a horizontal lay system for SURF needs covering a wide variety of water depths.
Mr. Dietrich states, “We tried to prepare as good as possible for all eventualities during the operations so we could limit potential risks wherever possible.” He also added, “This helped us to efficiently execute all required works with interfacing service providers.” As one of the external service providers, Mr. Peter Halfwassen, from ‘Halfwassen Hafendienst’ remarked, “We are proud of having supported this important project for BBC Chartering and McDermott.”
One year ‘Project Division’
Meanwhile the umbilical rests on the sea floor and waits for connection in the ongoing project. Macedon Gas field is targeted to start production during 2013, and with that another project will be realized that helps us to secure our energy related future. BBC Chartering’s ‘Project Division’ was introduced about a year ago, and meanwhile the team has further grown and is busy in engineering tenders and transports for exciting assignments around the world.
We like to say congratulations to the team, well done and good luck also for all future endeavors!