Pipeline repair: status update

Our pipeline repair activities are making good progress.

• We’ve reached a watershed moment with our site preparation, which is nearly complete. This has included building an access road to the leak site with 260 truckloads of metal (30 tonnes per truck).
• The positive news is that the engineering team is getting on with the repair of the pipe, having completed the first of four major welds on the pipe. We will be ready to install the first in-line plug this evening. Once this has been done we will start welding the second plug.
• We are on track to meet the Wiri delivery window (midday Sunday the 24th and midday Tuesday the 26th). The weather forecast good for the next two days we expect to make rapid progress with pipe repairs.

The Repair The process of replacing the ruptured section of pipeline involves:

• Excavating pits on the pipeline directly North and South of the leak location
• Welding split tees onto the line in these locations to allow stoppling equipment to be installed
• Plugging the lines upstream and downstream of the leak using the stoppling equipment
• Cutting out a 17m section of line work and replacing this with new prefabricated/tested line work
• Performing non-destructive testing of the welds
• Removing the plugs and refilling the line work prior to restarting the pipeline

This link shows how the stopple process works, this YouTube clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jluoMEOy8JM).

Environmental recovery
We continue to pump water from below ground that now appears to be free of hydrocarbons. We will undertake formal water tests this afternoon to confirm that this is the case. We continue monitoring the atmosphere both at the worksite and further afield to ensure that there is no risk to our repair teams or to the neighbouring community. This monitoring is not flagging any concerns.

Alternative supply
Construction of a temporary jet fuel truck-loading station at the refinery is now complete and ready to fill tankers as soon as they arrive.

Incident Investigation
A Root Cause Analysis study is underway to confirm what we believe to have been the cause of the rupture, and to detail the process that led from damage to failure. This is being done with the support of two Worley Parsons personnel from Calgary, Canada, who are now on site.

ENDS

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