Shell Australia has awarded an integrated front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to Wood and KBR for the Crux project located offshore Western Australia.
Image: Wood and KBR win FEED contract for Crux project. Photo: courtesy of Wood PLC.
Under the multimillion dollar contract, Wood and KBR will deliver FEED to construct a not normally manned (NNM) platform and gas export pipeline that will be part of the Crux project.
The project will see the development of the Crux gas field, located nearly 190km off the Kimberley coast and 620km north-east of Broome.
It will be developed to supply backfill gas to the Shell-operated Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (Prelude FLNG) facility.
Wood chief executive Robin Watson said: “This contract win to deliver the next generation of offshore facilities for Shell Australia demonstrates our unrivalled subsea pipeline expertise and offshore engineering capabilities.
“Wood has extensive experience in delivering technically complex subsea engineering projects in Western Australia.”
The Crux project will comprise the NNM platform with five production wells, in ocean waters about 165m deep. The facility will be linked to Prelude through the 160km long multiphase gas export pipeline.
The NNM platform is expected to take nearly five years to be fully designed, constructed off-site and transported to the project site.
Wood and KBR will deliver their FEED services over 18 months through their engineering and project management teams in Perth. Wood’s Kuala Lumpur resource base will support the project.
The teams will deliver a single integrated FEED for the Crux topsides, jacket, export pipeline and subsea pipeline end manifold (PLEM).
KBR president and CEO Stuart Bradie said: “KBR is committed to adding value to our customers. That’s why we are delighted to partner with Wood to bring together two industry leaders to deliver one world-class complimentary team whilst continuing our long relationship with Shell and Perth, Australia.”
“This win builds on KBR’s long offshore experience in Australia and reinforces our extensive global leadership position in unmanned offshore facilities.”
Shell is the operator of the Crux project and is partnered by SGH Energy and Osaka Gas.
A final investment decision (FID) on whether to proceed with the offshore gas project is expected to be taken in 2020. The Crux project is estimated to have a lifespan of more than 20 years.