The construction of the Dampier to Perth Pipeline was remarkable not only for its size and remote location but also for the driving force of Sir Charles Court whose government progressed the building of the pipeline. The local market that this created was the springboard for development of the North West Shelf project.

It was also remarkable due to the fact that after awarding the Northern section construction contract to the Italian firm Saipem, the WA Government of the day later awarded the whole project – that is the Northern, Central and Southern sections – to a consortium of Saipem and the Korean firm ICC, based on Saipem’s tender price for the Northern section.

Planning started in earnest in 1979 with the selection of a route and the completion and acceptance of the Environmental Review and Management Program carried out by Dames & Moore in association with Pipetech – McDonald Wagner & Priddle. Also in 1979 Fluor Australia was appointed, in conjunction with Maunsell and Partners (Fluor/Maunsell), as principal engineering consultant for the pipeline.

Fluor/Maunsell worked with the Energy Commission in management, design, construction and commissioning of the 1,500 km natural gas pipeline. The pipeline consisted of 1,400 km of 660 mm diameter pipe and 85 km of 508 mm diameter pipe with minor quantities of Grade B pipe.

Fluor/Maunsell was based in Perth and began work on the design phase of the pipeline project in early 1980 with the intention of the pipeline being commissioned early in 1984. The capital cost of the pipeline was estimated at that time to be $926 million.

The WA Government announced in February 1980 that it had approved the route for the pipeline that was favoured by SECWA. The pipeline route chosen was from Dampier to Dongara via Gascoyne Junction. From Dongara, the pipeline was laid beside the Dongara natural gas pipeline to Perth airport then through near-city rural areas to Kwinana.

Fluor/Maunsell called for tenders for construction of the Northern section of the pipeline in December 1981. Those qualified to bid were Majestic Wiley, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Nacap, Saipem Australia, Spie-Capag, Techint Australasia and Williams International.

Early in 1982, SECWA awarded Steel Mains a $37 million contract to supply part of the pipe for the pipeline. It was the biggest single contract in the pipe maker’s history. The order was for 40,000 tonnes of pipe for a 285 km section of the pipeline. The pipe was produced at Steel Mains’ plant at Kwinana.

SECWA also awarded contracts to an Italian company, Siderexport, and to a Japanese consortium, for 70,000 tonnes and 100,000 tonnes respectively.

The timetable called for gas to be flowing to Perth in October 1984. However, reports at the time said that the WA Treasury was promoting a plan which would bring gas from the North West Shelf to Perth up to a year ahead of schedule. This idea was dismissed as nonsense with press reports quoting a senior engineer as saying “That’s nonsense. Not even with Aladdin’s lamp could we bring the project in that early.”

SECWA was meanwhile moving ahead. A coating plant had been established at Geraldton and coating of pipe got underway in early July 1982. The first two shipments of pipe from Japan, which comprised some 21,000 tonnes, were received during June 1982 into Geraldton, and delivered to the coating plant.

Joe Ashton, who was in charge of the coating operation, said “The coating contract was awarded to GP International Pipecoaters (being a joint venture between Gardner Perrot of WA and Key and Kramer of Maassluis in Holland)

“The coating was a Fusion Bonded Epoxy and this was the first major pipeline to be coated with FBE in Australia.

“In all, some 127,000 x 12 m joints of 26 inch diameter were delivered to the pipe yard with pipe coming from Japan, Italy and Steel Mains in Australia for which a rail siding was established into the coating plant.

“Pipe handling within the coating plant was handled by the use of vacuum lifts, another first in Australia. All pipe movements within the coating plant were carried out by a joint venture between Koop and Hooymeijermeyer of Holland. Jaap Reenders, late CEO of Nacap Asia, was in charge of this operation.”

Load out to various stockpiles for double jointing was carried by road train with each trailer carrying ten joints.

August 1982 saw an unusual type of contract agreement. Saipem Australia and ICC, a Korean based firm, in joint venture were awarded the contract to construct the whole of the Dampier to Perth Pipeline. The deal was based on prices established in competitive bidding for the Northern section which was originally awarded to Saipem alone.

The proposal to award the contract in this way was announced in Perth by the Minister for Fuel and Energy Peter Jones on 3 August 1982.

Mr Jones said “At this stage it is not intended to call tenders for the Central and Southern sections of the pipeline. Instead we are negotiating construction prices with the joint venture based on the competitive construction prices submitted by Saipem on the Northern section.”

The Minister was at pains to emphasise that the joint venture construction proposals would make full provision for using Australian sub-contractors and labour.

Mr Jones said that Saipem had a distinguished record in pipe building in Australia over the last 15 years. These included the Moomba to Adelaide pipeline, a major section of the Moomba to Sydney pipeline, the Moomba to Stony Point pipeline (which was then under construction), and the Dongara to Perth pipeline.

Two WA transport firms, Bellway and United Transport, combined to win the major road haulage contract worth more than $9.6 million. The contract involved delivering the imported linepipe (from Japan and Italy) to the pipe coating plant from Geraldton wharf. It also involved the delivery of all pipe material from the coating plant to the various stockpile sites along the 1,500 km pipeline route. Stockpiles were spaced every 80 km along the route, and over the period of construction more than 200,000 tonnes of pipe would be road hauled to these sites.

SGS Australia was awarded the contract to x-ray more than 160,000 welds along the pipeline’s entire length. Pipeline project manager for SGS, Colin Philp, said on completion of the project that up to 1,000 welds a day were tested by SGS, using 19 mobile darkrooms and a workforce of 76 technicians and assistants.

Construction of the pipeline was completed in record time and well within the $926 million budget, creating records for productivity. The line had been built with only one per cent of time lost through industrial disputes. Saipem, at a function to mark the completion of the project, said that the success could be attributed to detailed planning before the project, especially in industrial relations.

Bonuses and incentives had been important among Saipem’s 200 person workforce. Average bonuses had been about $100 to $130 per day, providing big payoffs on the Northern section which finished early November 1983, 80 days ahead of schedule. The Central and Southern sections also came in ahead of time. The early completion of the line provided huge benefits for both the WA Government and the North West Shelf venture.

Commissioning of the line began in August 1984, and it was carrying its full complement of gas by the end of October 1984.