Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has received a letter of award from Saipem in relation to the offshore project for the Ichthys gas export pipeline development near Darwin, Northern Australia. The project value to Boskalis amounts to approximately EUR 200 million. INPEX is the main developer of the Ichthys project and Boskalis will work on behalf of Saipem (Portugal) Comércio Marítimo.

The Ichthys development revolves around the construction of a new 42-inch deep sea natural gas pipeline from the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin 880 kilometers to Darwin onshore. The pipeline will run through the Darwin harbor, requiring dredging services in the near shore area, rock installation and the construction of a landfall.

For Boskalis, the contract entails dredging an 18 kilometers pipeline trench in which the gas pipeline will be laid, a pipe-pull over a distance of approximately 3,000 meters and the installation of a protective layer of rock after the pipeline has been laid. A cofferdam and winch platform will be constructed at the waterline edge to build the landfall. Work is set to commence mid 2013 and is expected to be completed by mid 2015.

For the pipeline trenching and landfall construction, Boskalis will deploy two large backhoe dredging vessels. The rock for the post-lay installation will be sourced from a local quarry and will be placed using side stone dumping vessels. The services of SMIT Subsea as well as miscellaneous ancillary equipment will be used during the course of the project.

The Boskalis strategy is designed to benefit from the key macro-economic drivers that fuel global demand in our selected markets: global trade, increasing energy consumption, population growth and the challenges of changing climate conditions. This project is driven by increasing energy consumption.