Saipem SPA’s Castorone pipelaying vessel experienced an “incident” the morning of Jan. 30 while operating offshore the Pilbara coast, Western Australia, the company disclosed in a brief statement. No injuries occurred to personnel onboard, nor did the vessel sustain any major damage. However, there was localized damage to the trunkline it was installing, which will now be repaired.
Castorone was laying Woodside Energy Group Ltd.’s 430-km Scarborough offshore natural gas pipeline when the incident occurred. Local media reported that work has been halted in its wake.
The vessel is said to have lost control of the pipeline, which then suffered a rupture. Media reports that another incident involving Castorone occurred Jan. 2, 2024, caused by uncontrolled movement of the vessel during pipelay operations.
The Scarborough project will produce around 8 million tonnes/year (tpy) of LNG via the Pluto LNG plant. Pluto Train 1 is already operating at 3 million tpy using gas sourced from other locations, and Train 2 is expected to add 5 million tpy to coincide with the start of production at Scarborough. Scarborough gas will replace the current sources of supply for Train 1 and feed Train 2 entirely.
Scarborough field, in Carnarvon basin, has estimated dry gas resources of 11.1 tcf. Woodside said late last year that it expects production to start in 2026 (OGJ Online, Nov. 10, 2023).