Nacap and the project owner, Epic Energy, executed an early contractor involvement (ECI) Agreement to assist with the construction phase of the QSN3 Pipeline Project.
The QSN3 Pipeline Project involves the duplication, or looping, of both the existing South West Queensland (SWQ) Pipeline and the recently constructed Queensland-New South Wales-South Australia (QSN) Link pipeline and includes the installation of pipeline related facilities and hot tap cross-connections.
The new pipeline will connect Epic’s existing gas hub located at Wallumbilla in Queensland to both the inlet of the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline, and the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.
When completed, the new 450 mm diameter QSN3 loop pipeline will be approximately 938 km in length, with a maximum allowable operating pressure of 15,300 kPag. To maximise the flow of gas and complement Nacap’s construction scope, Epic Energy (under separate contract) is also constructing a new compressor station at its Wallumbilla facility in Queensland and is upgrading an existing mid-line compressor station.
The pipeline construction phase of the project commenced in mid-2010 with over 300 km of pipeline laid and backfilled at the time of print.
Challenges met
The pipeline construction project works were affected by the adverse weather events of mid to late 2010 with welding, stringing, bending, ditching, right-of-way (RoW) survey, pot holing and fencing crews all being stood down in late September 2010 as a result, with all other in the field activities suspended shortly thereafter.
Under Epic Energy’s instruction, selected Nacap crews returned to site in mid-November 2010 to complete pipeline installation to where field joint coating had been completed, resulting in the installation of additional 60 km of pipe. These works were successfully completed in late December 2010.
To kick-start the 2011 pipeline construction season, a specialist Nacap “advance”? right-of-way repair crew was mobilised early to ensure the RoW would be safe and workable for the re-commencement of mainline works in mid-February 2011. Taking advantage of good weather in January, the Nacap mainline crew subsequently mobilized into the field ahead of plan.
Currently, the main camp is located at Charleville in south-central Queensland, and the mainline welders are working westwards from Charleville toward Quilpie. The works are progressing at an average mainline production rate in excess of 4 km per day and remain on schedule for pipeline and facilities completion in late 2011 with Gas-On scheduled by January 2012.