McDermott and Baker Hughes Install Subsea Infrastructure at Ichthys Field

Engineering company McDermott and Baker Hughes have completed the installation of subsea infrastructure at the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) field in northern Australia.

The work was conducted for Inpex as part of the contract McDermott and Baker Hughes secured in 2019.

The scope of the contract included engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of umbilicals, risers and flowlines (URF), a subsea production system comprised of a new 7-inch vertical Christmas tree (VXT) system, all forming a subsea well gathering system (GS4) tied back to the existing Ichthys Explorer central processing facility.

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

"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.

“Manufacturing the highly complex 7-inch VXT from our dedicated SP&S facility in Batam has expanded the global capability for Baker Hughes in the Asia Pacific region where we are well-positioned to support customers with a strong regional capability, complemented by a strong McDermott presence in Batam and the region as a whole,” said Romain Chambault, Baker Hughes Senior Vice President, Subsea Projects and Services.

Ihthys LNG is ranked among the most significant oil and gas projects in the world. The energy development is a joint venture between INPEX group companies (the operator), major partner TotalEnergies, and the Australian subsidiaries of CPC Corporation Taiwan, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA and Toho Gas.

Located about 220 kilometers offshore Western Australia and 820 kilometers southwest of Darwin, the Ichthys Field covers an area of around 800 square kilometers in water averaging depths of around 250 meters.

The Ichthys Field is estimated to contain more than 12 trillion cubic feet of gas and 500 million barrels of condensate.