Saipem Wins Sustainability Award

Saipem has won the 2014 Premier’s Sustainability Award in Australia, for Innovation in Sustainable Technologies.

The prize, awarded for the construction of the Narrows Marine Crossing, is promoted by the Queensland Government’s Department for the Protection of Environmental and Natural Heritage, and given support from the Queensland University of Technology. The company was awarded along with Santos GLNG and Thiess.

The Narrows Marine Crossing is one of the longest, trenchless, marine pipelines. In 2011, Saipem was given the design, procurement and construction for the project by Santos GLNG. The pipeline (4.3km long and approximately 1m wide) will transport the extracted and compressed coal seam gas from gas fields between Roma in Queensland and the Arcadia Valley to the Curtis Island LNG processing facility. The last section of the GLNG pipeline runs across the tidal plain known as The Narrows.

In order to minimize the environmental impact of pipeline construction activities, Saipem built a 4m wide undersea tunnel enabling the pipeline to cross The Narrows without disturbance to the local marine habitat, wildlife and surrounding coastal environment.

The most innovative aspect of this project, never presented in the Oil and Gas industry, is the utilization of a Pipe Thruster Machine to launch a pipeline in a tunnel.

The excavation of the tunnel was executed using a Tunnel Boring Machine, which lined the tunnel with precast concrete segments. The pipeline was primarily installed inside the tunnel, sealed and then backfilled with seawater. The flooded tunnel improves the pipeline pushing action by reducing the pipe’s vertical load as well as the friction on the tunnel floor.

Saipem has prioritized its commitment to sustain this technological design. The project aims to reduce the environmental footprint of all our operations, particularly in areas with a fragile ecosystem.