Apache to tie-in Julimar in Chevron Wheatstone LNG 1
In 2007, Apache Corporation (Apache) and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC) discovered the Julimar and Brunello natural gas fields in the Carnarvon basin offshore Western Australia.
Attached to the WA-356-P block, the Julimar and Brunello are estimated to contain 2.1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable reserves of natural gas
Located 180 kilometers northwestern offshore Dampier in Western Autralia, Apache and KUFPEC decided to join the close-by Wheatstone project to benefit from Chevron’s offshore and onshore infrastructures.
Through the agreement signed between Apache, KUFPEC and Chevron,
- Apache holds 65% of the Julimar and Brunello natural gas fields and took 13% interest in the Wheatstone phase 1
- KUFPEC owns 35% of the Julimar and Brunello fields
In this first phase of the Wheatstone LNG project, Chevron has already included all the necessary infrastructures for the development of the natural gas fields in the Carnarvon basin with:
- Offshore processing platform
- 225 kilometers pipeline from the offshore platform to the onshore facilities
- Onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
Located in Ashburton North Strategic industrial area 12 kilometers west of Onslow in Western Australia, the onshore LNG plant includes two LNG trains combining 8.9 million t/y capacity of LNG.
Together with Gorgon LNG, the Wheatstone LNG project is positioning Chevron as one of the largest producer of LNG in Australia.
Benefiting of Chevron Wheatstone infrastructures, Apache and KUFPEC designed the Julimar Development Project (JPD) all subsea to be tied-in the Wheatstone offshore platform.
According to this concept, the gas production wells will be drilled from three drilling centers and two satellites.
These production wells will be connected to subsea manifolds in clusters.
Then the raw natural gas is gathered from the manifolds with intra-field flowlines and tied-in Wheatstone offshore platform with twin production lines.
Apache awards $650 million Julimar subsea packages to GE Oil & Gas, Subsea 7, Allseas, and Oceaneering
In February 2012, Apache selected GE Oil and Gas for the project management, engineering and procurement of the subsea equipment.
This $150 million contract includes the project management and topsides control system.
In respect with the Julimar and Brunello reservoirs conditions, Apache required GE Oil and Gas to supply large bore equipment able to support high pressure and temperature.
The installation is planned on the beging of 2014 for which Apache selected Subsea 7.
In October 2012, Apache selected Subsea 7 to provide Julimar and Brunello project with offshore services including the transportation, installation, and pre-commissioning of the subsea equipment covering the umbilicals and flowlines, the manifolds and the diverless tie-in spools.
Subsea 7 will execute this $100 million contract from its local office in Perth, Western Australia on first quarter 2014.
Together with Subsea 7 contract, Apache awarded the contracts for the installation of the production pipeline and the umbilical:
- Allseas Construction Contractors won the contract for the transportation and installation of the 25 kilometers long twin 28″ production pipeline and the 4″ utility pipeline
- Oceaneering International Services got the 25 kilometers electro-hydraulic umbilical.
With this offshore subsea technology, Apache and KUFPEC, expect to produce:
- 1.07 million t/y (140 million cf/d) of LNG to be exported
- 22 million cf/d of natural gas for the domestic sales in Australia
- 3.250 b/d of condensate
All the contracts awarded by Apache and KUFPEC to GE Oil and Gas, Subsea 7, Allseas and Oceaneering, represent $650 capital expenditure in subsea equipment and services to tie-in Julimar and Brunello in Chevron Wheatstone LNG, a small amount compared with the cost of a stand alone offshore floating facility.
