The Jackson oil fields are located approximately 1,050 km west of Brisbane and 275 km east of Moomba in South Australia. Santos recorded oil production from the Jackson fields to be 1,781 million barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2007.
The facility at the Jackson oil fields accepts oil through approximately 250km of pipelines and flowlines, these are linked to about 40 fields containing 182 oil wells. The crude oil passes through a dewatering process and is then pumped to a final destination. Diversified was also involved in the expansion of the Tarbat and Jackson oil fields that made up Santos’ Cooper Oil Program, with the installation of the 130 km Tarbat to Jackson Pipeline, gathering lines and various facilities.
This culmination of the pipeline network construction is a huge contrast to the early trucking out of oil when the fields first opened for production in 1981. Jackson also acts as a central collection and storage facility for several outlying satellite gathering areas such as Watson, Tickalara, Cooroo and Naccowlah.
Diversified construction and design
Diversified, in conjunction with GHD, undertook design of the Jackson to Moomba pipeline before carrying out construction. The contract was awarded in September 2007, construction commenced in November 2007 with practical completion in July 2008 and oil brought on line within the month.
Construction was in accordance with Santos’ specifications (AS2885) and referenced codes in accordance with standard industry practice.
Explaining the construction activity, General Manager of the Oil & Gas Business Unit of Diversified Ciaran Hallinan said that it covered the installation of the pipeline together with all main line valves, tie-in points and a mid-line pigging station. A fibre optic cable was also laid in the pipeline trench.
“The pipeline itself is 200 mm diameter X70 steel pipe and passes through sparse country, containing flood plains, gibber plains and sand hills typically seen in the Cooper Basin region,” Mr Hallinan said.
Pipe for the project was manufactured by OneSteel at its Port Kembla plant in New South Wales and then railed to Broken Hill. One of the notable inputs by OneSteel was the testing of pipes to ensure ideal performance.
To transport the pipes from the railhead at Broken Hill, Neil Mansell Transport was contracted to deliver to site.
The land around the Jackson to Moomba pipeline is unforgiving country, famous for the deaths of explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. Their deaths are marked in the region by the famous Dig Tree approximately 40 m northeast of the Innamincka Hotel.
The digging, by members of the Burke and Wills expedition, is in remarkable contrast with the digging of Diversified almost 150 years later!
“The entire line was buried, resting at a depth of cover of approximately 1.2m, except for the risers, main line valves, scraper stations and a mid-line pigging station to remove slugs,” said Mr Hallinan.
Diversified used an existing camp for 120 personnel based at Jackson, at the commencement of the project. A second, new, top of the range camp, for 160 people was mobilised to Epsilon
(130 km along the route to Moomba) in line with the construction schedule as it progressed to Tickalara. The construction crews, who worked on a 28 day roster, appreciated the top class accommodation facility and from that appreciation came better productivity.
Additional facilities at Dullingari, Moomba and a fly camp, located at Ashby, were used for small crews associated with survey work, clear and grade, reinstatement and hydrostatic testing activities.
Discussing the construction program, Mr Hallinan explained that only one roster was possible before the Christmas 2007 break.
“Within one hour of the pipeline licence being issued, construction commenced in anticipation of rain and flooding in the area. A 40 km section of the pipeline, which involved crossing the Wilson River and associated flood plains, was undertaken first.
“This was completed by mid-December…the day before the weather broke and rain started. The weather was right on schedule and, as it transpired, the water remained in the floodplains until after the on-line date of the pipeline works, which justified the decision to complete this section as a priority.
“Work resumed in January 2008. A special works and crossing crew started at Jackson and completed all existing pipeline roads, tracks, creeks and dune crossings along the route. Working adjacent to and crossing the maze of existing operational oil and gas pipelines proved the most nerve-wracking activity for this crew, especially when traversing adjacent to the Jackson, Dullingari and Della production facilities.
“They were then followed by the trenching and welding crews, who all worked to specific schedules taking account of local road closures due to localised flooding from the summer rains,” explained Mr Hallinan.
Diversified Project Manager Graeme Dowie nominated several key points that he felt brought about successful completion. These included:
- the management of Health and Safety matters, which involved the management of heat stress on personnel during the incredibly hot summer months;
- the management of environmental issues, which included the re-instatement of all sand dunes and gibber plains after construction. This was quite an outstanding environmental feature and received commendation from Santos management;
- the management of personnel transport along the extended site, with the total distance travelled during the works program amounting to a distance in excess of 3.5 million km;
- open communication with the Santos Project Management team;
- the location and protection of the existing Santos facilities;
- the safe and efficient transport of the line pipe;
- the relocation of and the daily management of camps; and,
- the overall meeting of project requirements set by Santos.
Safety and environmental standards maintained schedules
“Our emphasis on safety resulted in an outstanding outcome,” said Bob McLellan, Chief Operating Officer of Diversified.
“We were able to report no Lost Time Injury … and that was with 180 people working on site. This outcome was largely due to the commitment of the company to safety…and it starts at the top, at WDS board level, the parent company of Diversified.
“At that level, there is a vision of completing every project with zero injuries and zero harm to all our staff … and the community.
“By setting such performance targets and reporting criteria the big issue of safety is constantly overseen,” he said.
Diversified’s safety systems are independently certified to AS4801 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
“We have Head Office staff that are supportive of people carrying out safety training. It gets down to daily routines…as well as ongoing programmes to keep attitudes constantly up to standard.
“We have also adopted the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) Incident Reporting Guidelines for the classification and measurement of work place incidents.
“Safety performance statistics are collected and reported on a monthly basis in accordance with these guidelines.
“Another safety highlight for the company was the completion of the pipeline with no vehicle incident, which was no mean feat, considering the treacherous road conditions that were traversed on a daily basis. A key safety initiative for the project was the installation in all vehicles of In Vehicle Monitoring Systems (IVMS), prior to commencement of the works on the pipeline.
“The IVMS reinforced our message about good driver behaviour and raised the focus on what was expected,” explained Mr McLellan.
Mr Hallinan acknowledged the efforts and co-operation of Santos personnel, led by Rob Simpson and Phil Dunn, Diversified’s suppliers, subcontractors and staff in providing a safe and successful project delivery.
“It was a great team effort by everyone to bring this job to completion in record time,” he said.
A spread of expertise in pipelines and facilities
Diversified Construction Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ASX listed company WDS Ltd.
Diversified is headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland with a major facility in Perth, Western Australia. It has a particularly strong record in pipeline and infrastructure design, construction, commissioning, as well as maintenance and repairs and the installation of mechanical equipment.
A major expansion of the water and waste water operations occurred in 2006. Experience includes the design and construction of major water pipelines as well as urban trunk mains and distribution systems, including water and waste water treatment plants.
Diversified’s Western Australian facility specialises in microtunnelling and associated civil work, pipe spooling, weld procedure development as well as training and testing of welders.
Overall, Diversified has a dedicated workforce of more than 600 people.
Other pipeline work in the energy sector, in addition to a series of ongoing contracts with Santos and Queensland Gas, has included contracts with both AGL and Caltex Refineries. For water projects, clients include the Department of Defence, Brisbane City Council, Brisbane and Caboolture Councils (Aquifuture Alliance), Gladstone Area Water Board and LinkWater.
Reducing Greenhouse impacts with Diversified
Diversified has entered into a commitment with national not-for-profit organisation Greenfleet, for the planting of 16,300 native trees during 2009, in an attempt to offset greenhouse gas emissions produced during the construction of the Jackson to Moomba Pipeline.
“By planting forests, and it is forests in this case, we can counterbalance or offset greenhouse gases released from our activities,” said David Bridge, the Systems and Environmental Manager of Diversified.
“We made an estimate of the number of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions that would occur on this construction project and then committed to the planting of the appropriate number of trees.”
Diversified estimated the emission of 4,380 tonnes of greenhouse gas by examining aspects of its fuel usage and other associated activities during the construction period and then calculated a need to plant the 16,300 trees.
“Through a process known as biosequestration, trees capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, convert it to sugars for plant growth and ultimately store carbon in living matter, for example the branches and leaves,” explained Mr Bridge.
Using the National Greenhouse Accounts Factors (January 2008) from the Federal Government’s Department of Climate Change, Diversified used two factors to determine the amount of emissions that needed to be offset.
The company used the full fuel cycle emission factor for:
- Fuel used in the transport of materials, personnel and waste (including light vehicles and buses);
- Fuel used in generation of work-site power and at the Epsilon camp; and,
- Proportioned power consumption at Diversified’s Brisbane headquarters and the nearby workshop at Hemmant.
In addition, the waste mix methane conversion factor for co-mingled waste used for:
- Known waste generated at the Epsilon camp site; and,
- Proportioned waste generated at Diversified’s Brisbane headquarters and workshop.
The Greenfleet Tree Totaller calculator was also used for the total distance travelled by air, for both staff and contractors.
“We selected Greenfleet, a not-for-profit organisation, who will plant the trees on our behalf for two key reasons,” said Mr Bridge.
“Firstly, they encourage businesses and individuals to reduce the greenhouse gases they produce and offset any remaining emissions by planting native forests.
“Secondly, they create native forests that represent biodiversity. Each Greenfleet planting site is different … a variety of native trees, local to the chosen area, is planted and, very importantly, maintained.
“And, there are the add-on benefits of helping achieve reduced salinity – a lowering of the water table – reduced erosion, improved quality of runoff water and providing essential habitat for native wild life,” concluded Mr Bridge.
Diversified and Greenfleet are now working together to develop a standard template for future projects that will help Diversified measure, reduce and offset future emissions.
Equipment used
Cat D9 dozers Cat 330 excavators Three bucket wheel trenchers Vermeer rock saws (model 955) Superior SP350 Padding machine Cat side booms Fiat Allis side booms
For more information contact Gavin Bailey of Diversified Construction Corporation on (07) 3292 0800 or gavinb@divcon.com.au