EUROPIPE’s Pipes for Ichthys LNG Project in Australia

The Ichthys LNG Project is one of the most important projects for the southern hemisphere. It provides Natural Gas at the LNG terminals in Darwin, northern Australia, which is explored in the Browse Basin in the Ichthys Field, offshore north western Australia. An approximately 890 km pipeline links the gas field to Darwin for which EUROPIPE delivers about 60 % of the pipe material. The pipeline is designed according to DNV OS F 101 selecting the grade SAWL 450 with suffix SFDU. The pipe dimensions are fixed to 42” diameter and 29.8 mm wall thickness. Small portions of H2S in the gas require considering sour gas procedures. The paper gives an overview about the Ichthys Project and the properties of the line pipe material prove during production. It will show that well controlled stable processes from steel making via plate rolling to pipe manufacturing results in homogenous quality of the final product. Some aspects from the challenges of logistics, the shipment from Europe to the south Pacific area are illustrated.