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Latest News & Events

Fyfe Expands Business in QLD read><close

National engineering and surveying firm Fyfe is in the midst of an employment boom in Queensland as it grows its oil and gas operations across the State.

Fyfe has expanded its presence in Queensland with the purchase of Coolum-based surveying and town planning practice, Colston Surveyors and Planners. The purchase includes an office in Dalby, close to the rapidly developing coal seam gas industry near Roma.This is in line with the expansion of the firm’s Queensland operations, which has more than tripled in size in the past five years to almost 60 staff with offices in Brisbane, Roma, Coolum and now Dalby.

“Queensland is the fastest growing State within our national operations and now accounts for around 30% of our total group revenue,” Fyfe Managing Director Mark Dayman said. “The surge in activity in Queensland, particularly within the oil and gas sector, is fuelling our optimism for the year ahead. We are forecasting our turnover will reach $36 million this financial year, up from $32 million last year.

“With the large amount of work coming through, we are now looking to take on an additional 25 staff across Australia, including 10 in Queensland. These positions are for engineers and surveyors through to senior managers.”

Mr Dayman said Colston was a well regarded practice with four staff, who would all be retained. “Colston has a strong reputation in consulting, surveying and town planning throughout South East Queensland and excellent growth potential,” he said. “Much of its work is on the Sunshine Coast, where the population continues to grow as increasing numbers of people choose to relocate to the region because of its lifestyle and climate.

“We believe there is strong potential to grow this business in the future, in conjunction with Fyfe’s existing business at Springwood. “Colston has also undertaken a considerable amount of surveying work for land divisions in the Surat Basin, which is at the heart of the rapidly expanding Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry.

“It has been estimated that the population in these areas will grow from around 30,000 to 75,000 in coming years as new gas projects in the region are developed.” Mr Dayman said this work in the Surat Basin complemented the gas engineering work being conducted by Fyfe.

“Fyfe already has an office in Roma from which it has been servicing companies involved in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and CSG developments,” he said. “We have worked on CSG projects since 2003 and have extensive experience in this field with a rapidly growing client base. “We are also looking to open a new office at Chinchilla to streamline our operations between Roma and Brisbane and provide additional support for our staff. “The purchase of Colston means we now also have offices at Dalby.” The purchase price has not been disclosed.

Fyfe’s head office is in Adelaide and has offices in Brisbane, Darwin, and AliceSprings as well as remote offices across South Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. It has around 250 employees nationally and is continuing to expand.

Fyfe Wins Gas Field Water Treatment Contract read><close

FYFE WINS GAS FIELD WATER

TREATMENT CONTRACT

Two treatment plants capable of processing a total of nearly five megalitres of

saline wastewater a day are being developed in Queensland to deal with one

of the major by-products of Australia’s emerging coal seam gas (CSG)

industry – water.

The treatment plants are being designed and engineered by national

engineering and surveying firm Fyfe, under contract from Queensland

company, The Pump House, for the rapidly developing Fairview and Roma

CSG fields near Roma in Queensland.

Under the terms of the contract, Fyfe has until the end of June to develop the

plants to factory acceptance and testing stage.

Fyfe’s Oil and Gas Engineering Manager, Mr Bruce Dickson, said the process

of extracting coal seam gas involves removing water from underground coal

reserves to free up methane. The gas and water is brought to the surface by

wells.

“One well can extract up to 500,000 litres of water a day,” he said.

“In the combined fields for CSG production in Queensland, there could be

between 4000 and 8000 wells when the industry is at maturity, so there is a

lot of water to be extracted and managed.”

Mr Dickson said The Pump House had access to a new process which

enabled these salt levels to be reduced to around 3500 parts per million

(ppm), at which stage the water could be used to irrigate salt tolerant plants or

be used for stock watering.

He said the process involved the management of sodium, iron and other

minerals in the water and was much cheaper than other treatment methods

such as reverse osmosis or evaporative distillation.

“Most of the water is salty and varies in quality from a few thousand ppm of

salt to 36,000 ppm, which is just below the salinity level of the sea,” he said.

“This variation will determine whether the new process alone, or in

combination with more expensive methods is required.

“The idea is that significant plantations of salt tolerant crops will be developed

near the treatment plants and irrigated with the treated water, rather than the

water being dumped into tailings dams,” he said.

“This meets the requirements of environmental protection authorities and

gives some practical use to the waste water being extracted with the CSG.”

Mr Dickson said the plants were being developed at The Pump House

facilities at Nambour on the Queensland coast.

“They have the process and we are providing them with the engineering

design support to make it all happen,” he said.

“It’s a natural extension to the engineering and survey work we currently

undertake in the CSG industry in Queensland as well as the natural gas

industry in South Australia.”

Mr Dickson said the first plants were being developed for use in the Roma

and Fairview fields, with the likelihood that further plants may be developed as

the CSG industry expands.

In recent years, Fyfe has worked on the development of more than 1500 wells

and 1200 gathering lines for the CSG industry in Queensland.

Last year it also undertook survey work for the development of the Roma to

Gladstone pipeline which will carry CSG from production wells in the Surat

and Bowen basins near Roma, Fairview and Scotia to a new LNG processing

and export facility at Gladstone.

Fyfe currently has around 45 staff working at its Brisbane office, with another

seven at a satellite office at Roma.

Fyfe Managing Director Joins APIA Board read><close

The Managing Director of Adelaide-based engineering and surveying firm

Fyfe has been appointed to the Board of the Australian Pipeline Industry

Association Ltd (APIA), the peak national body representing the interests of

Australia's transmission pipeline sector.

He is the second South Australian on the APIA Board.

Mr Dayman joins fellow South Australian Mr Ashley Kellett, the General

Manager of SEA Gas.

Mr Dayman said his appointment, at the recent APIA Convention in

Queensland, reflected South Australia’s AND Fyfe’s growing involvement in

the national pipeline industry.

He said the development of massive gas projects around Australia was

opening many opportunities for service providers and this growth was

expected to escalate significantly in coming years.

“These developments will almost certainly create opportunities for companies

such as Fyfe to provide specialist services,” he said.

“We are already working on a number of coal seam methane projects in

Queensland and South Australia and recently won a contract as part of the

multi-billion dollar Gladstone Liquified Natural Gas project in Queensland.

“However, we expect work in the industry will increase rapidly in coming years

as other gas projects are developed.”

APIA is a broad association covering all sectors of the gas transmission

industry, including owners and operators, construction companies,

consultancies and service providers.

APIA has more than 400 members.