All three projects are related to the development of Queensland’s coal seam gas (CSG) sector. One of the major projects currently underway in the region is the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Project, which involves the development of an $8 billion onshore
CSG-to-LNG production and export facility on the Queensland coast, including a 340 km, 1,066.8 mm export pipeline from Wandoan in the Surat Basin to the north-east of Gladstone. The gathering and trunkline projects that Murphy Pipe and Civil has been contracted onto are to gather CSG for eventual transportation to the CSG hub in Gladstone.
The Woleebee Creek to Glebe Weir Pipeline Project is being developed by SunWater for QGC and, once completed, will transport up to 36,500 megalitres of treated CSG water from QGC’s Woleebe Creek water treatment plant to the Dawson Valley where it will be made available for use by water users from the agriculture and commercial sectors.
Murphy Pipe and Civil has a workforce of more than 2,000 pipeline specialists with extensive experience in all disciplines of pipeline construction working on these projects. The company says that while it is proud of its long-term pipeline ground workforce, it has also invested significant effort in recruiting employees for its site-based project support network, and many of these employees working in site-based roles have been sourced from local regions.
Client relationships
Murphy Pipe and Civil has a good working relationship with QGC, and it says that through a strong, shared goal of developing the CSG industry, both companies have achieved significant milestones over the past few years. Of all the positive business philosophies shared between both companies, the need for a constant focus on the safety of their activities, their workforce and the communities they work within always has the highest priority.
Safety programs
Murphy Pipe and Civil has recently rolled out two company-wide strategic safety initiatives, which have been adopted by the workforce on the three Queensland projects.
The Safe Driving Program is designed to recognise and reward employees committed to safe driving. Murphy Pipe and Civil employees drive more than 3 million km each month, and this is one of the company’s biggest safety risks. While the company has an in-vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) fitted to each of its vehicles, and employees are required to use a personal IVMS key to record their driving behaviour, the overwhelming feedback from project site employees is that the strategy, while effective, did not serve to recognise safe driving practices, only bad driving behaviour.
Based on this feedback, the company developed the Safe Driving Program, which enters employees on the IVMS system into a jackpot draw if they record three perfect months of driving, for example, no speeding breaches or wearing their seat belt at all times. The eligible entries win a cash prize, but also get a weekend off to attend a V8 Supercar Race. To further enhance and also to maintain employee buy-in for the safe driving initiative, the company has engaged race care driving legend Dick Johnson to take on the role of Murphy Pipe and Civil’s Safe Driving Ambassador. Dick visits project sites each year to promote the message of safe driving and also hosts the jackpot winners at the V8 Supercar Race each quarter.
The company has seen a massive decrease in occurrences of employees speeding, not wearing seat belts or driving unsafely, and employees now openly request that IVMS be fitted to their vehicle and that they be provided with an IVMS key so they can be in the draw.
The Safety Culture Program is a behaviour-focused initiative that departs from the more typical, external facilitator-led education campaign and instead calls upon the project experiences of actual members of Murphy Pipe and Civil’s workforce. The Safety Culture Program develops the knowledge-base and presentation skills of key culture leaders who are drawn from the company’s workforce so that they can eventually deliver the safety message back to their peers. The company has found that its workforce embraces the messages more readily and with more enthusiasm due to the fact that it comes from people with firsthand experience.
The three-stage program involves every single company employee attending a Safety Hub Day. The program calls for volunteers to undertake the Culture Leaders Course, which will eventually be rolled out at strategic times throughout the year to all employees.
Apart from the obvious increased safety awareness and reduced injury rate, another measure of the success of the program can be seen in the number of employees who volunteer for further safety training. Of the 2,000 employees taking part in the first stage, more than 90 per cent have volunteered to become Culture Leaders.
In addition, Murphy Pipe and Civil runs a Nominate a Mate recognition and reward program, which calls on employees to nominate their mate for recognition of great things they have done to ensure workplace safety or better manage the company’s environmental responsibilities. Winners receive a $400 voucher and their nominator receives a $100 voucher. Apart from an increase in nominations, the program also had other positives, as it led to closer workplace relations between employees.
Stakeholder liaison
All liaison with landholders is carried out by QGC prior to Murphy Pipe and Civil entering landholder properties. However, after this consultation occurs, Murphy Pipe and Civil does carry out extensive pipeline construction and installation work on properties right across the Surat Basin and directly engages with landholders. The company has found that via a mutual goal of positive engagement and respect for all parties good working relationships can be developed.
Local supplier usage and flow-on community benefits
When Murphy Pipe and Civil first started work across the Western Downs in 2011, it made a strong commitment to ensuring it supported the communities that were hosting the company during its project activities. Since then, the company has stayed true to that goal and has supported the community in a number of different ways.
Each year it spends millions of dollars to secure the various services, trades and products that are offered by the local community and has also made a significant effort to source its workforce from the local region.
In addition to this ongoing commitment to towns like Chinchilla, Wandoan, Tara and Dalby, the company has also played a key role in the support of community events. In the past 18 months, Murphy Pipe and Civil has provided more than $150,000 to assist local community organisations and schools hold events that aim to raise funds for worthwhile community causes.
New innovations and developments
Spiderplough ploughing machine
Murphy Pipe and Civil was awarded the QCLNG Gathering Project contract to install a network of more than 3,100 km of high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipeline using a new form of installation technology – the Spiderplough machine.
In the early stages of CSG development, CSG companies were using conventional trench and bury techniques to install their network of HDPE gathering pipelines. While this was relatively successful, Murphy Pipe and Civil believed improvements could be made to increase not only pipeline installation rates but also provide a safer workplace and decrease any impacts on the environment. The company invested significant funding into research to develop the Spiderplough, a German-made pipeline ploughing machine, which had been used for many years overseas to install small-gauge fibre optic cables and water pipelines.
After considerable modifications, Murphy Pipe and Civil was able to suitably adapt the Spiderplough to be used in Australia to accommodate the much larger HDPE pipelines required for CSG gathering. In addition to increased installation rates, which are often up to five times faster than conventional trenching using a fleet of excavators, the Spiderplough is also able to achieve these feats within a far smaller construction corridor, meaning less impact on the surrounding environment. The Spiderplough also brings increased safety benefits to projects as the ploughing system does not require an open trench, which means workers, the public or wildlife cannot fall into a trench and injure themselves.
The company now has the largest Spiderplough fleet in the world and this is complemented by the world’s largest fleet of Fast Fusion machines, which enable grounds crews to perform the fastest HDPE pipeline weld rates in the industry. Together, these machines demonstrate the most innovative and efficient way of installing HDPE pipeline.
Trench Master EF 450
The massive expansion of the CSG sector has prompted Murphy Pipe and Civil to invest in the development of innovative machinery to meet the industry’s demand for efficiency.
A good example of this is the Trench Master EF 450, which Murphy Pipe and Civil designed to improve the way thousands of kilometres of open trenches are backfilled with sand during pipeline construction, and is currently being used on the Woleebee Creek to Glebe Weir Pipeline Project outside of Wandoan.
The Trench Master EF 450 is built on tracks and powered by a 470hp CAT C15 engine. It replaces excavators and crews with a single, remote-controlled machine that can be operated by one person to gain precise placement of materials in trenches, with full vision of the entire operation to ensure the safety of crews.
According to the company, the Trench Master EF 450’s hopper can take on board sand and other materials from a 40 tonne dump truck in 45 seconds, and via its conveyor belt can quickly disperse this material into pipeline trenches.
Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Trunklines Project
Scope: Steel and water pipeline construction for QGC’s Trunklines Project, and installation of 679 km of fibre optic, high voltage and zinc ribbon cabling. Total pipeline length: More than 200 km Diameter: 350-960 mm Pipe material: Mild steel cement lined Steel grade: API 5L X42 Coating: 2FLBE (Dual layer fusion epoxy resin) Workforce: More than 800 Commencement date: 2013
Woleebee Creek to Glebe Weir Pipeline Project
Scope: Pipeline construction for SunWater to transport treated coal seam gas water from QGC’s Water Treatment Plant. Construction of pump stations, balance tanks and other associated infrastructure Total length: 120 km Diameter: 914-1,404 mm Pipe material: Mild steel cement lined Steel grade: 350 MPa Coating: External coating fusion-bonded medium density polyethylene, internal cement mortar lining (16 mm thick) Workforce: More than 400 Commencement date: 2013 Completion date: 2014
Other QCLNG upstream network contractors
Pipeline engineering and procurement: McConnell Dowell and Consolidated Construction Company joint venture (MCJV) Engineering and procurement – upstream gas field facilities: WorleyParsons Pipe supply: Iplex Pipelines Gathering systems: WDS Upstream transportation and storage services: Toll Energy Logistics Upstream integrated services contract construction services: Transfield Services Trunklines construction camp, Flycamp (Wolleebee Creek): Australian Portable Camps