The pipeline will run from the Victoria platform, which is currently being constructed, to the Gibson - South Plato pipeline where it will be tied in. The Gibson - South Plato pipeline then connects to the Varanus Island processing hub in the Carnarvon Basin.
The pipeline consists of approximately 5.5 kilometres of 12 and 8 inch pipeline bundles and the value of the contact is estimated at around $10 million. It should be completed in late December this year.
The Victoria platform is what Apache term a "minnow' pod, a smaller version of the low cost, unmanned monpods they have been using successfully for years to develop their string of smaller oil pool discoveries.
The four legs of the facility use the production casing from the wells as structural support, doing away with traditional caissons and jackets. Apache deputy managing director Eve Howell said it was very much the same design as they had used for the Simpson oilfield. The facility is being designed and fabricated by Worley Engineering and the Ausclad Group.
Mermaid said the LOI also gave Apache the option of including work which may arise for the installation of the Double Island pipeline bundle, estimated at around $7 million.
