Wood Group Mustang awarded topsides engineering for world's largest semi-submersible production facility

HOUSTON, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wood Group Mustang has been awarded the topsides detailed engineering and procurement support for the semi-submersible central processing facility (CPF) in the Ichthys field development.  The contract was awarded by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., the EPC contractor for the CPF.  The project, located off the northwest coast of Australia, in 250 meters of water, will be operated by INPEX.

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The topsides facility will weigh approximately 70,000 (60,000 dry) tonnes with a topside deck footprint of 156m x 132m (514ft x 434ft), making it the world's largest semi-submersible CPF. It will be designed for a peak gas export rate of 1,657MMscfd as well as liquids transfer to the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for condensate production of approximately 85,000 bpd.

The semi-submersible platform is a core component of the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.  The Ichthys LNG Project is a joint venture between INPEX (76%, the operator) and Total (24%). Gas from the Ichthys Field, in the Browse Basin approximately 200 kilometres offshore of Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate. The gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889km subsea pipeline. The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.

Wood Group Mustang also provided the topsides engineering and design for the Thunder Horse production and drilling platform, which is currently the world's largest semi-submersible production facility.

"We are thrilled to be participating in this record-setting project," said Steve Knowles, Mustang president. "Our expertise in topsides design is unparalleled and we appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities on this challenging design."

Detailed engineering is scheduled to be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2013 and first production is expected by the end of 2016.

Wood Group Mustang, which comprises Mustang, Alliance Engineering, IMV Projects and Energeticos, is a global project management, engineering, procurement, and construction operations business serving the upstream oil & gas, refining & chemicals, pipeline, automation & control, and industrial markets.  It has offices in the United States, Latin America, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Malaysia, North Africa and the Middle East.  For more information, visit www.mustangeng.com.

Wood Group is an international energy services company with $6.bn sales, employing more than 41,000 people worldwide and operating in 50 countries. The Group has three businesses – Engineering, Wood Group PSN and Wood Group GTS - providing a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul and repair services to the oil & gas and power generation industries worldwide. www.woodgroup.com

BP's Thunder Horse platform is currently the world's largest production and drilling semi-submersible structure, with a throughput of 250,000 BPD oil. Located in 6,300ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico, it has a deck footprint of 447ft x 367ft.

SOURCE Wood Group Mustang