Apache, Santos let Devil Creek pipelay contract

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Oct. 5 -- Apache Energy Corp. and Santos Ltd.—partners in the Reindeer field-Devil Creek natural gas project in Western Australia—have let a $195 million (Aus.) contract to a joint venture of Malaysia’s Sapura Crest Petroleum and Norway’s Acergy for the installation of a suite of pipelines and offshore production facilities.

The work involves the transport and installation of 91 km of rigid pipeline including offshore pipeline and a shallow-water beach approach, subsea tie-in and stabilization works, as well as a wellhead platform at the Reindeer gas field comprised of a 1,700-tonne four-leg steel jacket and a 450 tonne topside processing module.

Engineering and preparatory work will begin immediately in Kuala Lumpur and Perth. Offshore installation is scheduled to begin late next year using the Sapura 3000 dynamic positioning heavy lift and pipelay vessel.

The Devil Creek gas plant is about 50 km south of Karratha and will supply as much as 220 TJ/day of sales gas into the Dampier-Bunbury trunkline. There will also be an associated production of up to 500 b/d of condensate stripped from the gas stream.

Work at Devil Creek began in September and the plant is scheduled to come on stream at the end of 2011.