LNG

Thailand’s state-run energy firm, Public Company Exploration and Production (PTTEP), has awarded US engineers McDermott a sizeable contract for transportation, installation and commissioning of a project offshore the state of Sabah in east Malaysia.

McDermott, the US engineering and construction company, and energy and LNG technology company Baker Hughes, have completed the installation of subsea infrastructure at the Ichthys gas field in northern Australia linked to the liquefaction plant operated by Japan’s Inpex Corp.

The contract was awarded to a McDermott and Baker Hughes consortium in 2019 by Inpex, the operator of the Ichthys project at Badin Point near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Ichthys LNG has as additional shareholders French major TotalEnergies and the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corp. of Taiwan, and Japanese utilities an importers Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA and Toho Gas.

Key LNG producer

Ichthys LNG has nameplate capacity of 9.3 million tonnes per annum LNG and 1.65 million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas per annum along with more than 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak output.

The McDermott-Baker Hughes subsea infrastructure development project included engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of umbilicals, risers and flowlines (URF), a subsea production system comprised of a new 7-inch (approximately 18 centimetres) vertical Ichthys LNG planthristmas tree (VXT) system.

McDermotts said this is all part of forming a subsea well gathering system (GS4) tied back to the existing the “Ichthys Explorer “central processing facility.

The consortium’s scope of work also included an in-fill URF EPCI involving the development of new subsea wells tied-in to the existing gathering systems.

“The McDermott and Baker Hughes partnership has been marked by resilience and adaptability, guided by our firm commitment to deliver for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG and Australia,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott’s Senior Vice President, Subsea and Floating Facilities.

Engineering capabilities

“Together, leveraging McDermott’s unique end-to-end EPCI capabilities and Baker Hughes’s subsea development solutions, we navigated project complexities and overcame the unique challenges posed by the pandemic,” Swaminathan explained.

“Our hard work paid off, and I would like to thank our teams in Perth (Australia), Batam (Indonesia), and beyond, whose collective efforts enabled the safe completion of this important work scope,” Swaminathan added.

Romain Chambault, Baker Hughes Senior Vice President, Subsea Projects and Services, said the completion was achieved through the successful partnership between Baker Hughes and McDermott to execute the project for Inpex.

“The amount of collaboration shown between the consortium has been truly unique and serves as an industry benchmark for the successful execution of large, complex EPCI subsea projects,” Chambault stated.

McDermott, the US energy and LNG engineering company, has been awarded an offshore contract from Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering for the Kasawari (Sarawak Gas Field) carbon-capture and storage (CCS) project located offshore Sarawak in East Malaysia.

Under the scope of the contract, McDermott will perform transportation and the structural installation of a 138-kilometre (85 miles) pipeline section, a 15,000 metric tonne (MT) CCS platform jacket and a bridge connecting to the existing central processing platform.

“Set to become one of the largest offshore CCS projects in the world, the Kasawari CCS award showcases the valuable role we have in supporting our clients through the energy transition,” explained Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott's Senior Vice President, Subsea and Floating Facilities.

Houston-based McDermott said the installation activities would be performed by one of McDermott's heavy-lift and pipelay vessels.

Flaring reduced

Petronas Carigali, the exploration and production arm of state energy company Petronas, said the Kasawari CCS project when completed was expected to reduce carbon-dioxide volumes emitted via flaring by 3.3MT CO2e per annum.

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp., a participant in Asia-Pacific LNG projects in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, has also been seeking to acquire interests in several natural gas fields offshore Malaysia with CCS attached.

JX Nippon has operated in Malaysia for over 20 years and hopes to focus on additional development initially of the Helang gas field.

The company is also continuing further study of the BIGST project, a large-scale venture that combines the development of high-CO2 gas fields and CCS, in collaboration with Petronas.

Various other Petronas gas fields are targeted for CCS including Bujang, Inas, Guling, Sepat and Tujoh.

The resources in these fields are in the order of several trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas.

The BIGST project study reflects the efforts towards a fast-paced development of new Malaysian gas fields using CCS and storage.

JX Nipppon said that adopting the CCS solution along with gas was in line with the strategy of the company, which is part of the Japanese ENEOS Group.

US energy and liquefied natural gas project engineering company McDermott has been awarded an initial contract as part of a venture for the development of a natural gas field offshore Vietnam, one of the newest LNG importing nations.

McDermott, the US energy and liquefied natural gas project engineering company, was awarded an offshore pipeline and installation contract from Shell subsidiary Sarawak Shell for the Selasih natural gas fields pipelay and heavy-lift project off the coast of Sarawak in East Malaysia to help underpin LNG production.

Shell is the operator for the exploration acreage and new fields in the F22 and F27 Selasih area which are part of the Malaysia LNG extension and production sharing contract (PSC).

Nearly all the gas produced offshore Sarawak is supplied to Malaysia LNG and to the gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants in Bintulu.

Analysts note that Shell is still very active in Malaysia and is involved in oil and gas offshore Sabah and Sarawak under about 16 PSCs in which its interests range from 20 percent to 85 percent.

Offshore Sabah, the UK-based major’s local subsidiary operates two producing oil fields, including the Gumusut-Kakap deepwater field, with Shell’s interest 29 percent, and the Malikai deepwater field, Shell interest 35 percent.

However, Shell is even more active offshore Sarawak where it is the operator of eight producing gas fields with Shell’s interest 50 percent.

Among the projects were included the 2019 abandonment of depleted wells for the Serai field and the Saderi fields.

Shell then signed agreements for the extension of the Malaysia LNG PSC using other sources.

McDermott scope

Under the scope of the latest contract with Shell, McDermott said it would perform transportation and installation services for two pipeline segments and one section of flexible pipelay.

McDermott will also provide pre-commissioning works on all infield pipelines and perform the structural installation of three jackets and topsides.

“This is the fourth project we are executing for Shell under the Subsea and Floating Facilities project portfolio, demonstrating the strength of our long-standing relationship,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott's Senior Vice President for Subsea and Floating Facilities.

The project management and engineering will be executed in Malaysia, leveraging the local expertise.

Offshore installations will be performed using the “DLV2000”, McDermott's versatile heavy lift and pipelay vessel.

“To ensure efficient project delivery, we will draw upon the expertise from our Kuala Lumpur center, which supports the global execution of subsea and offshore projects,” stated Swaminathan.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) of India has delivered a natural gas field in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal offshore India’s East Coast with the help of US engineering firm McDermott and the associated consortium.

US energy and LNG engineering company McDermott International has been awarded a contract by Australian export plant operator Woodside to develop the Scarborough gas field in Western Australia for Pluto LNG.

McDermott of the US has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project after successfully completing front-end design services for a booster compression module for the Australian Ichthys LNG project operated by Inpex of Japan.

The module will be added to the “Ichthys Explorer” central processing facility, located off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

The Ichthys plant came on stream in 2018 and produces almost 9 million tonnes per annum of LNG from two processing Trains, while the Ichthys gas field is offshore northwest Australia and connected to the plant by a 890-kilometre subsea pipeline.

Shares in Ichthys LNG held by Inpex amount to around 66 percent of equity, while French major TotalEnergies has 26 percent.

Micro-stakes are additionally held by customers CPC Corp. of Taiwan and Japan’s main utilities and LNG buyers, JERA Co. Inc., Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric and Toho Gas.

“Ichthys LNG is ranked among the most significant and complex energy developments in the world,” explained Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott's Senior Vice President for the Asia-Pacific region.

“We've been there since 2012, and we are very familiar with the Ichthys gas field,” added Swaminathan.

This is the third contract McDermott has been awarded for the project after successfully completing FEED services and converting contracts to EPCI.

McDermott's EPC scope involves a booster compression module which will extend the production from the gas reservoir to the central processing facility.

McDermott is currently undertaking work on umbilicals, risers and flowlines as part of an expansion of the existing offshore facilities.

The work will be executed from McDermott's Engineering Centres in Perth, Western Australia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Chennai on the East Coast of India.

“Fabrication will be completed at McDermott's yard on Batam island in Indonesia, which has been delivering complex offshore and onshore structures for over 50 years,” added McDermott.

McDermott International of the US was awarded the main engineering contract from Australian LNG plant operator Santos for the offshore Bayu-Undan infill well that serves the Darwin liquefaction export plant in the Northern Territory.

McDermott said the contract is for subsea, engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) work for the Phase 3C project in the Timor Sea, located about 310 miles (500 kilometres) off the northwest coast of Darwin and 124 miles (200km) off the southeast coast of Timor-Leste.

“McDermott has a strong track record of delivering complex subsea projects in the Asia Pacific,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott's Senior Vice President for the region.

“We will continue that tradition as we demonstrate our execution expertise and safety excellence throughout this project,” added Swaminathan.

The Bayu-Undan field is one of Timor-Leste's largest gas fields and Santos become operator in May 2020 after buying out the stake of US major ConocoPhillips.

Preliminary work on the Phase 3C project commenced in May 2021 and the scope will be managed by McDermott's office in Perth, Western Australia.

“The McDermott scope involves a tieback of a single in-field well to existing facilities re-using existing flexible flowline with a new umbilical and certain infrastructure,” explained the Houston, Texas-based company.

Santos, as operator of the Bayu-Undan Joint Venture, has already started the new infill drilling programme in the field in the waters of Timor-Leste.

The programme was given a final investment decision in January 2021 and comprises three production wells for additional natural gas and liquids reserves, extending field life as well as production from the offshore facilities and the Darwin liquefaction plant.

The Adelaide-based company said the wells would be drilled using the “Noble Tom Prosser” jack-up rig, with first production expected in the third quarter of 2021.

Santos believes the infill drilling programme will add over 20 million barrels of oil equivalent gross reserves and production at a low cost of supply and importantly extend the life of Bayu-Undan and the jobs and investment that rely on it.

Santos noted that more than 400 Timorese are currently working on Bayu-Undan activities and this will make an important economic contribution to Timor-Leste.

The President of the Timor-Leste National Petroleum and Minerals Authority, Florentino Soares Ferreira, has said the Santos-led venture was important in the history of Timor-Leste.

“It will mark the first drilling campaign in the Bayu-Undan field as Timor-Leste offshore waters, following ratification of the Maritime Boundary Treaty (MBT) between Timor-Leste and Australia,” stated Soares Ferreira.

Santos as operator has a 43.4 percent stake in Bayu-Undan. The remaining stakes are held by South Korea’s SK E&S (25 percent), Inpex Corp. of Japan (11.4 percent), Italy’s Eni (11 percent), while Japanese utilities JERA Co. Inc. and Tokyo Gas own 6.1 percent and 3.1 percent respectively.