Local engineering, mechanical installation and maintenance company AGC Industries Pty Ltd is in the final stages of loading a 450-tonne steel structure on to a heavy lift ship at the Australian Marine Complex’s Common User Facility at Henderson, south of Perth.
The structure, known as a steel jacket, will be installed at the Pohokura gas field off the coast of New Zealand for field operator Shell Todd Oil Services.
The jacket is 56 metres long by 16 metres wide, by 16 metres high and was manufactured from tubular steel subsections.
Subsections were constructed at AGC’s Kwinana workshop and transported by road to the AMC-CUF via the High Wide Load Corridor.
Design and construction of the Pohokura offshore platform was awarded to a joint venture of New Zealand-based Fitzroy Engineering Group and AGC in 2004.
AGC Industries managing director Stuart Kenny said the steel jacket would be leaving for New Zealand, subject to shippers, on Sunday February 5.
“The steel jacket is laid out horizontally at the AMC facility and will need to be elevated into the vertical position for shipment,” he said.
Mr Kenny said the contract for the construction of the steel jacket was worth $10 million.
“Design and construction of the steel jacket started in September 2004 and fabrication in June 2005,” he said.
“Under the joint venture agreement, AGC was commissioned to complete the construction and fabrication of the steel jacket, while Fitzroy Engineering would complete construction of the topside of the oil platform, which weighs about 180 tonnes.”
Mr Kenny told WA Business News the contract represented the first Australian export of a steel jacket, constructed in Australia, for installation in foreign waters.
“One of the major reasons we ended up with the contract was there weren’t the facilities in New Zealand to build the platform,” he said.
“We were up against major international competition, including engineering and installation company McDermotts.”
Mr Kenny said the company had won another contract to build the steel jacket and top side of an oil platform.
“We have been receiving international inquiries, there is much demand placed on constructed fabricated facilities,” he said.
Pohokura offshore platform will be unmanned and will sit in 32 metres of water, with the topsides having no equipment other than trees, flowlines, a manifold, navaids and remote instrumentation.
AGC was established in 1988 and provides multi-disciplinary services including structural and mechanical installation, maintenance, fabrication insulation and cladding and linings.
The company’s major projects include its insulation, painting, fireproofing and scaffolding contract for the Woodside LNG Train 4.
