Verbrec Infrastructure Services has repaired a section of the Roma Pipeline system, located in Queensland, for one of Asia-Pacific’s largest oil and gas producers.
Constructed from carbon steel, the Roma East Backbone is a 34.1 km section of DN500 (20-inch) pipeline running from the Roma East Nodal Compressor Station to the Roma Hub 2 Compressor Station.
In November 2020, Verbrec was engaged by the energy producer to perform direct assessment and temporary repair on the Roma East Backbone to qualify the severity of a pipe wall anomaly found during a previous inline inspection.
Following the assessment, an internal manufacturing mill defect was identified, which the asset owner determined needed to be cut out and removed from the alignment. Verbrec was engaged as a sole source supplier to execute the work.
The repair was scheduled to be performed during a Total Plant Outage of the compressor station in July 2022, with a maximum duration of 92 hours.
Prior to the shutdown Verbrec delivered all planning and engineering, including the development of all required scopes of work and work packs, in accordance with the client’s guidelines.
This included project management and the procurement of equipment, materials and labour, as well as excavation and backfilling, pipeline isolating and purging, and cutting and welding.
Once the section had been replaced, Verbrec conducted non-destructive testing (NDT) of the ‘golden welds’ for client acceptance and recoated the pipeline.
Throughout the repair Verbrec was responsible for the majority of field support, including traffic management and engineering support.
The project was successfully completed in compliance with the AS/NZS 2885 series of standards covering the design, construction, maintenance and operations of gas and liquid petroleum pipelines.
Verbrec Chief Operating Officer, Matt Cooper, said “Verbrec has been safely and efficiently maintaining the integrity of its high-pressure pipelines and facilities for over 20 years now. It’s fantastic that we are now able to offer this specialist service to other asset owners and operators to keep the wheels of the energy industry turning.”
In total, it took Verbrec approximately 60 hours to complete the critical path activities of the project, including a 24-hour stand down for NDT on the welds, after which the backfilling took place.
For more information visit the Verbrec website.
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