The engineering, procurement and construction management of the Pluto LNG project is being executed by a Foster Wheeler-led joint venture and includes a single LNG production train with forecast production of 4.3 MMt/a of LNG, a fractionation unit, an acid gas recovery unit, gas purification units, tank storage facilities, a boil-off gas compressor, loading berths, gas turbine power generation units and utilities. First gas is scheduled for production at the end of 2010.

A Technip, Chiyoda and Fluor joint venture has also been awarded a contract for the preparation of a basis of design for a proposed second processing train at Pluto. Woodside has also awarded the joint venture a contract for the study of an onshore plant, as part of the selection process of a design concept for the Browse LNG Development, which is located 425 km northwest of Broome in Western Australia. Woodside is looking to develop Browse as Western Australia’s second LNG production hub.

SBM Offshore to supply FPSO for NWS

Woodside, as operator of the North West Shelf Venture (NWSV), has sent a Letter of Intent (LOI) potentially worth approximately $733.4 million to SBM Offshore for the turnkey supply of a disconnectable floating production and storage offtake (FPSO) unit, which will replace the currently operating FPSO Cossack Pioneer in the third quarter of 2010.

The intention is to use the Okha floating storage and offtake (FSO) unit for conversion into the FPSO with a disconnectable turret. The disconnectable turret on the Cossack Pioneer FPSO was initially supplied by SBM in 1994.

The fixed part of the turret, which is connected to the seabed with mooring lines and connects the production risers to the FPSO, will be reused for the new FPSO allowing for quick hook up and minimal downtime when changing out the FPSOs.

The joint venture participants in the NWSV include Woodside Energy, BHP Billiton Petroleum, BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG and Shell Development.

PNG LNG enters FEED

The PNG LNG joint venture project has formally entered into front end engineering design (FEED), which will be conducted over the next 16 months with a final investment decision expected in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The EOS joint venture of Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and WorleyParsons has been contracted to undertake the upstream FEED studies, which will include preliminary engineering design for the gas field developments, gas conditioning and compression facilities, and pipeline infrastructure.

Downstream FEED will include the liquefaction plant, storage and marine facilities and will be conducted in two phases. The first is a non-competitive phase that will be performed with support from KBR to establish the basis for a second, competitive EPC bid phase involving both Air Products and Chemicals and ConocoPhillips.

PNG LNG project joint venturer Oil Search Managing Director Peter Botten said “The move into FEED represents a major step forward in commercialising Oil Search’s large discovered resource base, of which around some 60 per cent is committed to the PNG LNG project.”

The PNG LNG project has the potential to become the largest project ever undertaken in PNG, envisaging an integrated development of the Hides, Angore and Juha Gas Fields as well as associated gas from the Kutubu, Agogo, Gobe and Moran oil fields.

The gas will be transported to the LNG plant near Port Moresby through more than 700 km of large diameter pipeline. The first LNG cargo is expected to be shipped in early 2014.

Gorgon subsea contract awarded

VetcoGray, a GE Oil and Gas business, will supply subsea equipment and support services for five years for the Gorgon LNG Project, located offshore Western Australia.

The Gorgon Project – a joint venture between Chevron Australia, ExxonMobil and Shell – includes the subsea development of the Greater Gorgon natural gas fields, which will be linked to a three train, 15 MMt/a LNG facility, with provision for domestic gas production on Barrow Island.

VetcoGray’s contract includes the supply of manifolds, pipeline termination structures, pipeline end terminations, trees with subsea control modules, wellheads, production control systems, system integration testing, installation and operations support.

The VetcoGray project team will be based in Perth while engineering of the specialised subsea systems will be carried out at the company’s centres in Aberdeen and Nailsea in the UK; Houston in the USA; Billingstad in Norway; and Singapore. Manufacturing and sourcing will also take place across several international locations, including potentially Australia.

Clough to redevelop Reindeer facilities

Clough has been awarded a $200 million contract by Apache Energy for the installation of the Reindeer Gas Field Development offshore facilities.

The contract follows Apache’s previous announcement of Clough as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the development of the onshore gas processing facilities at Devil Creek.

The Reindeer Gas Field (WA-209-P) lies in the Dampier sub basin on the Northwest Shelf, offshore Western Australia.

The offshore scope of work for the development includes the transportation and installation of an unmanned minimum facilities wellhead platform and of a single 16 inch raw gas pipeline to the onshore gas treatment plant. The total length of the proposed pipeline is approximately 100 km, of which about 90 km will be installed offshore in up to 60 metre water depths and a 2.5 km section comprising a horizontal directionally drilled shore crossing to link to the 10 km onshore pipeline.

Engineering work will commence immediately with offshore construction planned for the second half of 2009 for completion by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Apache also appointed Clough to assist with essential repairs to the Varanus Island gas plant following the explosion that caused the company to temporarily shut down operations on 3 June 2008.

A Clough project team that had been working on a compression upgrade project on the island were reassigned to form the core of the assisting repair team.

Clough CEO John Smith said that having a skilled project team already established and familiar with the plant enabled the company to provide strong and rapid support to Apache in its efforts to get the plant operational as quickly as possible.

Clough will undertake survey/laser scan and assist in developing the scope of repair work. Engineering and procurement will be provided from the Perth office.

Clough has a long history with Varanus Island, which is approximately 116 km west of Dampier, having worked on a number of projects associated with the plant. The gas facility generates around 30 per cent of Western Australia’s domestic gas supply.

J Ray McDermott wins Kipper EPC

J Ray McDermott has been awarded a contract for the offshore construction of the Kipper Gas Project, located in Victoria’s Bass Strait.

The engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract was awarded by project operator Esso Australia Resources.

J Ray chief executive officer Bob Deason said “This is a very significant contract for J Ray, as it encompasses a wide range of services and marks a return to working with Esso Australia.”