WDS (formerly Diversified Construction Corporation – DCC) completed the 113 km Berwyndale to Wallumbilla Pipeline in South East Queensland. Construction commenced on 13 September 2008, with practical completion achieved on 27 February 2009.

WDS General Manager of Oil and Gas Ciaran Hallinan described the project as a joint commitment by WDS and AGL Energy in delivering a major portion of coal seam gas (CSG) transportation infrastructure.

“The pipeline will allow AGL to deliver CSG from the Wallumbilla Gas Hub to markets in eastern Australia,” Mr Hallinan said.

Pipeline planning begins

Proponent AGL appointed IDM Partners to project manage the pipeline. Ray King, the IDM Project Manager, said that the contracting concept was for an early contractor involvement (ECI).

“AGL commenced route selection, landholder liaison, cultural heritage negotiations, environmental assessments and pre-front-end engineering and design via the engagement of a number of key consultancy partners, with a view that the successful construction tenderer would, once appointed, take over some of these processes,” he said.

AGL’s brief was to have the pipeline commissioned by early 2009 as part of wider gas infrastructure projects such as the Queensland to South Australia/New South Wales Link (QSN Link) between Ballera and Moomba, and the Wallumbilla Compressor Station. To meet this target, AGL engaged WorleyParsons in April 2008 to undertake early front-end engineering and design (FEED) services.

This, together with other work, allowed the procurement process to commence and orders to be placed for long lead items including 113 km of tri-laminate coated line pipe from OneSteel, with coating applied by Bredero Shaw. The OneSteel order initially required delivery to a central stockpile site at the mid-point of the line and Neil Mansell Transport (NMT) was contracted by AGL to commence delivery in early August 2008.

After a tendering process conducted by AGL in May 2008, WDS was contracted to take over the FEED development in June 2008. The scope of services involved providing construction planning and advice, and to take over responsibility for the FEED process under the ECI structure.

While this process was underway, AGL was finalising the environmental regulatory approvals and cultural heritage and processes, aided by RPS Ecos, HLA Envirosciences Environmental Services, Specialised Native Title Consultants, Blake Dawson and Maloney Field Services. A construction commencement date of 1 September 2008 was targeted.

Surveyor MJ Hedges was mobilised to expedite initial centreline pegging for cultural heritage survey purposes, followed by a full centreline alignment survey for construction purposes. Tight timelines and the challenges of state forest undergrowth necessitated the use of several survey teams from MJ Hedges’ Roma and Brisbane offices.

BWP construction underway

Meanwhile, the WDS construction team led by Graeme Dowie and Justin Langton, who had been completing the Jackson to Moomba Oil Pipeline for Santos in the Cooper Basin and began moving crew and equipment into Miles.

Always conscious of the effect of summer rain on the pipeline route, the WDS team was anxious to get on the ground and commence preliminary work on geotechnical investigations, foreign services location and preliminary access work.

In parallel to these efforts, the team was engaging subcontractors and locating suitable areas for camps, while at the same time preparing documentation and plans.

A camp location was found west of Miles and an agreement was reached with the landowner. The difficulty with obtaining approvals outside the pipeline licence area meant a one-camp strategy was adopted. Within weeks the camp had been moved from the Cooper Basin site and was operational and ready for the initial construction crews. Occupancy at the camp peaked at 180 employees during construction.

As the construction start date approached, NMT, now working directly for WDS, began the movement of pipe into a railhead at North Star on the New South Wales/Queensland border. With the stockpile fast approaching capacity, AGL received its pipeline licence – PPL 123 – from the Queensland Department of Mines and Energy on 1 September 2008. Following rain, WDS commenced right of way (RoW) construction at the Berwyndale Launcher Station on 13 September 2008, relieving pressure on the North Star stockpile site and allowing pipe to be strung on the RoW. NMT was not only taking pipe off the rail at North Star, but also trucking pipe directly from OneSteel’s factory at Kembla Grange.

With construction activity underway, the inevitable happened – heavy rain occurred in early September and again in October and December, making conditions extremely difficult in an area known for its black cotton soil. Graeme Dowie recognised early in proceedings that weather could potentially cause problems and additional resources were employed. Construction continued on schedule, with a few rescheduled leave breaks occurring around the worst of the weather.

An additional challenge was the originally identified water sources not being available to the project, meaning WDS had to reconfigure the hydrotesting program numerous times. Finally, approval was obtained to take water from Dogwood Creek. This necessitated the creation of a fourth test section and required water to be disposed of into a holding dam, specifically constructed for this purpose.

While the pipeline construction was underway, DCC Fabrication Supervisor Steve Jacobs was putting the Berwyndale Launcher Station and Wallumbilla Receiver Station together. Assembly was always ahead of the provision of some items of equipment, but with IDM and WDS working together the final pieces fell into place.

DCC Instrumentation and Electrical Manager Vincent Lee co-ordinated the cathodic protection, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The interfaces with QGC at Berwyndale and Epic Energy at Wallumbilla, in addition to the need to integrate these systems to suit the electrical and instrumentation operational requirements, proved another challenge.

To add to this, crossings of the Dogwood and Yuleba creeks by horizontal directional drilling were required, as was the traversing of numerous public roads. This was accomplished on schedule by Pipeline Drilling Group, led by John Whitbread, and Bothar Boring.

A planned bore under APA Group’s Roma to Brisbane Pipeline through rock had to be aborted and was subsequently open-cut to minimise the impact on the assets. Mr King described the co-operation of the APA team led by Marg Straker as exceptional.

Ensuring a key focus on the occupational health and safety (OH&S) front was Brian Ross, assisted by paramedic Alex Drapow, both from WDS. As part of the OH&S approach, WDS commissioned a purpose built vehicle to be used as a mobile clinic/medical response vehicle for the construction of the pipeline, ensuring a guaranteed rapid medical response in the event of a medical emergency.

Environmental issues

DCC Environmental Manager Kel Sanson oversaw the environmental risk management for the project. The environmental authority obtained by AGL from the Environmental Protection Authority and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service of the state Department of Environment and Resource Management meant that WDS and Ackroyd Engineering Services developed strict guidelines in conjunction to ensure that the project had limited impact on the community and the local environment.

One of the environmental highlights of the project was the fauna management program, which rescued trapped wildlife from the pipeline trench and also recorded a snapshot of the region’s diverse and endangered species. Fauna handlers removed more than 960 animals from the pipeline trench during the course of construction, registering some species that had been previously unknown in the area.

Mr Hallinan said that it was an excellent achievement by WDS and all involved in the pipeline construction that there were no reportable safety or environmental incidents at completion of the project.

Pipeline paperwork

A pipeline cannot be built without copious amounts of paperwork. DCC Quality Assurance Manager Andru Daryanto compiled the project data record with input from WorleyParsons, the construction survey team from CADS led by Troy Harper, MJ Hedges and the drafting team at Sungold. Fifteen volumes later the pipeline is complete!

Mr Hallinan stated that numerous audits of all systems were conducted by AGL, SGS Australia and internally at WDS. “Every audit report commented on the excellent adherence to procedures, further evidence of the project team’s commitment to best practice,” he said.

Completing BWP works

Hydrotesting of the pipeline under the supervision of DCC’s Garret O’Mahony and Ray Polzin and overseen by Lynndon Harnell, was successfully completed in late January 2009. The pipeline was pre-commissioned with practical completion achieved by late February 2009.

Mr Jacobs and Mr Lee returned to site on 1 April 2009 to assist with the final commission. Gas reached operational pressure on 8 April 2009.

Mr Hallinan said that all employed on this project from concept to completion can be proud of their efforts.

“The achievement of reaching this milestone was the result of a great team effort. Support from all participants meant that despite the many challenges and hurdles encountered during construction, a united and positive focus by all parties overcame these difficulties. Congratulations to all.”