Worldwide coordination supports safe Ichthys start-up

The Ichthys LNG project is currently under construction and is ranked among the most significant oil and gas projects in the world. The project is a joint venture between INPEX group companies (the operator), major partner Total, CPC Corporation Taiwan and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.

The final investment decision for the Ichthys LNG Project was reached in 2012 and first production is scheduled to commence towards the end of September 2017.

The Ichthys oil and gas field, in the Browse Basin, off the coast of Western Australia, is estimated to contain 360 billion cubic metres of gas and 527 million barrels of condensate, and have an operational life of more than 40 years. Located about 220 km offshore Western Australia, it covers an area of around 800 km² in water averaging depths of around 250 m.

Gas from the field will undergo preliminary processing at the offshore CPF to remove water and raw liquids, including a large proportion of the condensate.

The project is expected to produce 8.9 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum, along with more than 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.

Gas and condensate from the Ichthys field will be exported to onshore facilities for processing near Darwin via an 890 km pipeline. Most condensate will be directly shipped to global markets from a floating production, storage and offloading facility permanently moored near the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin.

Safety specialist HIMA recently opened a new regional headquarters in Singapore, and Ichthys is one of its most significant ongoing assignments.

Energy companies around the world rely on automated safety systems from HIMA. “But our scope on Ichthys is much more than just safety systems,” said Dieter Specht, project director for HIMA. “We have worked for several years to synchronise all the steps necessary to ensure safe operations and a successful start-up. In the process, we’ve functioned on a tight time schedule with multiple companies across national borders and cultural differences.”

Global coordination and local collaboration are crucial for huge energy projects. To meet that demand, HIMA offices in Singapore, China (Shanghai), South Korea (Geoje), Dubai (UAE), Australia (Perth) and Germany (Bruehl) have collaborated closely. Project management is coordinated from Bruehl, while most day-to-day work with fellow project suppliers takes place in Singapore. That’s also where function tests have been conducted on more than 1200 cabinets supplied by the basic process control system (BPCS) supplier HIMA and project partners.

At Ichthys, HIMA is working closely with the project’s three engineering procurement contractors and the BPCS supplier. At one point, all five companies examined the details of each of 25,000 safety I/Os. That brought forward additional requirements that typically would have been identified during commissioning. That up-front work helped to minimise subsequent plan corrections and related time delays.

Functional safety expertise is an important factor in HIMA’s project approach. The company is applying the principles of IEC 61511 in designing and testing the systems. “We have the expertise and project coordination skills that are valued by operators of all sizes of energy projects,” said Specht.

Along with safety instrumented systems (SIS), fire and gas (F&G) systems and high-integrity pressure protection systems (HIPPS), HIMA is providing 430 control cabinets and related connections. A pre-FID project for developing standard applications, design and testing was supplied in advance to the main contract. Additionally, cybersecurity and network management for associated hardware and components such as smoke detectors in employee living accommodations are part of the scope.