Hydraulic technology has been used in the laying of a 80km string of subsea pipeline anchors off Australia’s NW coast. About 900 gravity anchors were positioned by Technip and Subsea 7 (TCS7 Joint Venture) using Technip’s vessel CSO Venturer as part of a USD 55 million contract involved in the expansion of Woodside Energy Ltd’s North-West Shelf project. A high-pressure (700 bar) hydraulic system from Enerpac was custom-built for two anchor feed beds used to lift and position the 32-ton anchors for lowering by shipboard crane to the ocean floor. Reliability and accuracy was integral to the rollout of the string of anchors – weighing a total of 28,800 tonnes – because their correct positioning ensures stability of the new 42-inch second trunkline from the Woodside operated Goodwyn and Rankin gas condensate fields. The works have now been completed. Enerpac produced a design that could easily and precisely handle the weights involved – while keeping the operator at a safe distance from anchor frames as the lift was being performed. Four RR308 double-acting cylinders were selected to provide a total of 120 tons of lift capacity for each of two anchor feed beds (each cylinder being of 30 ton capacity on push function, 5 tonne on retraction, and having a stroke of 209mm). These rugged cylinders, designed for high-cycle industrial uses, were powered by an Enerpac PAM-9808N air pump with manifold incorporating valving to ensure fine control of advance and retract functions, as well as safety shutdown capacity. Control mechanisms incorporate VC-4 remote directional control valves, which facilitate fine control of individual cylinders within each group of four, while also providing shutdown capacity. Safety awareness is carried through the system’s high-pressure hosing, which incorporates HC-7306 and HC-7310 hose with a 4:1 safety factor.