Epic Energy announced in July 2007 that it had committed to building the long awaited QSN Link, which would for the first time directly link the sales gas systems in Queensland to both New South Wales and South Australia. In addition to the construction of the 180 km, 400 mm diameter QSN Link, the project also includes the construction of a mid-line compressor station on the South West Queensland Pipeline (SWQP) near Charleville and compression at Epic’s Wallumbilla compound.

Each of these projects has been progressing well and at the time of going to press, Epic Energy QSN Project Manager Daniel Wallace still anticipated meeting the planned mid-January 2009 commencement date. “This is despite heavy rain in June causing flooding of large sections of the right of way and cutting all access to the construction site for both light vehicles and for pipe haulage trucks from Broken Hill,” Mr Wallace said. “It is thanks to the efforts of the whole team, and in particular our construction contractor Nacap, that we were able to overcome this set-back and bring the construction schedule back on track.”

Epic Energy Managing Director Steve Banning said “While Epic has been very focussed on delivering the current project on time and on budget, there has been considerable interest from a number of parties seeking to expand the capacity of the SWQP/QSN further. In December 2007, well before construction of the first stage of the QSN project commenced, Epic had already committed to the Stage 2 expansion.

“The SWQP/QSN capacity is now fully contracted until the end of 2013. As a result of this and continued strong interest for pipeline capacity from a number of potential users, Epic Energy announced in July 2008 that it would commence a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study on the Stage 3 expansion of the SWQP/QSN, which is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year 2008.”

Mr Banning continued “The FEED study is investigating the feasibility of further expansion of the SWQP/QSN through either full compression or by ‘looping’ the SWQP/QSN. In conjunction with the FEED study, Epic Energy has also commenced the process of obtaining the necessary approvals for both the compression and looping options, commenced negotiations on transportation agreements with potential shippers and is investigating suitable capital solutions. A final decision to proceed with the expansion will only be made once certainty is known on all of these factors and the expansion is deemed to be commercially attractive.

“Epic Energy puts the strong demand for SWQP/QSN pipeline capacity down to a growing demand for coal seam gas in Mt Isa and southern states as supplies from other basins are expected to diminish, along with a growing demand in each of these markets for gas as a key fuel to reduce carbon emissions.

“Further expansion of the SWQP/QSN is a logical next step in the evolution of the eastern Australian gas market because the SWQP/QSN already ties into existing gas transmission infrastructure to Mt Isa, South Australia and New South Wales,” Mr Banning said.

Project Background

Epic Energy set up an in-house project team in its Melbourne office to manage the QSN Link project in July 2007. Headed by Daniel Wallace, the team of up to twelve people includes both long-term Epic employees seconded to the project for its duration and contractors employed specifically for the project. The project team has enjoyed the support of the broader Epic Energy team including the IT, HR, Commercial, Finance and Transportation Services teams in Melbourne and the Operations teams in South Australia and Queensland.

During construction of the pipeline and compressor facilities, around 300 new jobs have been created and Epic Energy has employed additional staff to operate and maintain the new pipeline and facilities post commissioning.

Mr Banning said “We are pleased that local personnel including landowners from around Charleville and surrounding districts have been involved in the project. Enerflex, in particular, has employed a large number of local contractors to construct much of the earthworks, civil works and foundations for the mid-line compression at Scraper Station 4 on the SWQP.”

Co-operative construction

BlueScope Steel supplied approximately 17,000 tonnes of high-strength PIPESTEEL™, suitable for conversion into API 5L X70, to Orrcon Pipe and Large Tube Division. The steel supplied was developed specifically to meet the stringent requirements of high-strength, high-pressure pipeline applications and has been used in over 20 other pipeline projects.

Nacap commenced construction of the 180 km pipeline at the western end of the route on 13 April 2008. An Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) process was adopted for the project, which enabled Nacap to become intimately involved in the planning and contract negotiation for the job prior to contract award and assisted the company to ‘hit the ground running’ once the contract was awarded. This process has resulted in an extremely co-operative relationship between Nacap and Epic Energy, with project teams having reported a feeling of ‘alliance’ rather than a traditional contractor/client relationship and this has resulted in a very collaborative, co-operative and friendly team.

The local councils, authorities and landowners are continually being kept informed of the latest progress of the job. Onsite Cultural Heritage monitoring is continuing while ground breaking activities are underway in Queensland with no major concerns reported. Onsite flora and fauna monitors are also in place to ensure minimal impact on the natural habitat. Thanks to the high level of safety consciousness of the contractors, no LTIs have been recorded at the time of writing.

Construction of the Compressor Station at Scraper Station 4 near Charleville commenced on 31 March 2008 and at Wallumbilla on 4 August 2008, and all phases of the project are expected to be complete by 13 January 2009.

Hot tapping the pipelines

Three hot taps are to be included on the project including two on Epic Energy pipelines – a class 900 tap on the SWQP and the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline (MAP) – and on a third party pipeline, APA Group’s Moomba to Sydney Pipeline (MSP). Nacap has subcontracted the hot tap works on all pipelines to experienced hot tap contractor Furmanite. Epic Energy and Nacap have jointly undertaken extensive risk assessments with all stakeholders and testing, including independent expertise sought from the Welding Technology Institute of Australia for the live line welding to ensure the taps are performed safely and with minimal impact to stakeholders.

Tight time-frames and environmental awareness

Although the project has been relatively simple from an engineering point of view, the main concern with respect to engineering has been the fast track nature of the job, which meant that the construction commenced with, effectively, an incomplete design. Again the co-operative nature of the project between Nacap, Epic Energy and engineering consultant, WorleyParsons in Brisbane, has meant that any issues identified during the process have been resolved quickly and with minimal impact on the construction process.

There were literally hundreds of culturally significant sites identified by local indigenous groups during pre-construction surveys of the planned route. On mobilisation to site, Nacap immediately flagged these as ‘no-go’ areas and they have been avoided for the duration of the project. The identification of these areas has resulted in re-alignment of the pipeline route and also reduced work space in areas where re-alignment was impractical. Nacap has managed these reduced work areas without issue.

The most environmentally significant sites on the project were identified early in the pre-construction surveys around the creek areas and, in particular, the Cooper Creek crossing near the Nappa Merrie bridge. Numerous planning visits were undertaken to the proposed Cooper crossing site by personnel including Nacap, Epic and environmental consultant, RPS Ecos, to ensure that the optimum route was chosen with minimal environmental impact.

Dedication to the job

The dedication of pipeliners can never be underestimated with welder Bob Papp celebrating his 75th birthday on the job in style. Work crews and other Nacap personnel joined Bob on the right of way to honour this special milestone with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ as Bob blew out the candles on his cake – yes cake on the right of way! The lunchtime break was only concluded when everyone had enjoyed a slice of birthday cake.

Although bending foreman Lee Fei Loong has had extensive experience working with Nacap overseas, this is his first job in Australia and Lee was anxious to see his first kangaroo. Thankfully, Lee found one through his theodolite several weeks into the project. However, the infamous ‘albino baby kangaroo’ sighted by Nacap Construction Supervisor, Hugh Boyd has escaped capture on camera!