ADNOC In Expansion Mode
The region’s leading oil and gas company is executing various projects to increase oil and gas output at its fields. These include expansion projects, as in Habshan, and technological initiatives at onshore fields such as Bu Hasa and Bab to increase capacity from one million bpd to 1.4m bpd. Pipeline Magazine provides an overview of some of the projects under implementation
Gasco’s Habshan Complex Expansion
Adnoc is currently undertaking a project to increase production capacity of the Habshan Gas Complex, which when completed will increase production to nearly 5 bscfd by the year 2007.
While the Habshan Gas Plant remains under the ownership of Adnoc, Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. or Gasco is responsible for the management of the plant’s daily operations.
Gasco operates five onshore plants — Habshan-Bab Gas Complex, Bu Hasa NGL Plant, Asab NGL Plant, Asab Gas Plant and Ruwais NGL Plant — in Abu Dhabi. The Habshan and Bab Gas Complex were formed in 2001 following the merger between Abu Dhabi Gas Company (Atheer) and Gasco.
As a result of the merger, the Habshan and Bab Gas Plant became Gasco’s largest plant complex and, indeed, one of the biggest gas complexes in the world. The plant processes some 3.25 billion standard cubic feet of natural and associated gas every day, which is delivered into the UAE’s distribution network, and there are plans to increase this capacity further in the near future. The plant also produces natural gas liquids (NGL), condensate and sulphur. The uninterrupted supply of gas as a fuel from the Habshan and Bab Gas Plant is critical for the generation of electricity and for water desalination operations for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The constant and reliable supply of gas is also crucial for various industrial consumers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The first Habshan Gas Plant was built in 1983. After several development phases, it now has eight gas processing trains and two gas injection compression trains with the capacity to process 3.25 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (bscfd). Three additional trains are planned to be installed and are expected to be operational by 2007. At that time, the gas processing capacity of the Habshan and Bab Gas Plant is expected to have risen to approximately 5 bscfd.
The Bab Plant is one of Gasco’s original plants. Commissioned in 1981, it has a single NGL extraction train which was originally designed to process 117 mmscfd of the associated gas collected from Adco’s operations in the neighbouring oil field. Following a de-bottlenecking in 1989, the plant’s extraction capacity was increased to 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
Bu Hasa extraction plant has two trains and carries the distinction of being the first Gasco Plant in operation as of December 1980. It receives associated gas from the neighbouring oil fields and has a feed capacity of 600 mmscfd.
Located next to one of the richest oil fields in the country, 190km south of Abu Dhabi City, Asab NGL extraction plant compresses and cools the associated gas coming from Adco-Asab oil/gas separators. Since its start-up in 1981, Asab Plant has been in full operation and is at the beginning of the NGL pipeline system that runs to the fractionation plant at Ruwais. It has a feed gas capacity of 307 mmscfd. Located next to Asab NGL, the Asab Gas Plant is a gas cycling facility having two trains and a total capacity of 826 mmscfd.
After condensate separation, the gas is compressed and re-injected into the reservoir, while the stabilised condensate is shipped to Takreer’s refineries.
Finally, Ruwais NGL Fractionation Plant is located in the Ruwais Industrial Area. The plant receives NGL from the other Gasco Plants of Habshan-Bab, Asab (NGL) and Bu Hasa, as well as from the neighbouring Takreer Refinery. The plant can process 7.2 metric tonnes of NGL per year and consists of two fractionation trains, storage tanks and a loading jetty for exporting LPG and Pentane plus. Since November 2001, Ruwais plant also delivers ethane to the neighbouring Borouge petrochemical plant to be used in the production of ethylene.
(Courtesy of ADNOC News)
Umm Shaif Gas Injection Facilities
The US$ 1 billion project calls for the development of facilities capable of dehydrating and injecting 600 million cubic feet a day (cfd) of sour gas into the Arab C and D reservoirs to improve oil reservoir pressure.
The project consists of associated separation and effluent water facilities located in the Umm Shaif field that are consistent with the current long-term field development plan with an ultimate injection rate of 3bscf/d.
The project is divided into two parts. The first element involves the fabrication and installation of a new super complex at the offshore site and laying of interconnecting pipelines. The complex will include a riser platform, a compression platform, a collection and a separation platform, three flares and a 100-staff capacity accommodation platform. The second element is for the drilling of new wells at the offshore sites. It also includes the installation of a processing plant for dehydration and compression of gas before re-injection.
The new facilities will be able to handle 305,000 b/d of oil, 1,000 million cf/d of associated gas and 125,000 b/d of water.
Schedule
Bids were submitted for the front end engineering and design (FEED) contract on 17th September 2001. Worley was appointed as the FEED consultant in July 2002. A fresh FEED is being carried out by Worley. The new FEED study is expected to be complete by September 2004. The new FEED study will help in reducing the scope of work and the project costs.
Fourteen companies were invited by the client to express their interest in bidding for the EPC contract by 14th August 2003. The deadline to pre-qualify for the project was extended to early September 2004. The pre-qualified engineering companies will tie up with a nominated fabricator.
The client, Adma-Opco, had been planning to execute the project as an EPC contract and pre-qualifications for the EPC contract were submitted on 12th June 2004. However, it is now highly likely that the project will be tendered as an EPCM contract.
Stone & Webster was appointed as the project management consultant in February 2002. Completion is set for 2005.
The companies invited for the EPC contract were Kvaerner E&C, Worley, Petrofac International, Technip, Snamprogetti, Saipem, Sofresid, AMEC, Bechtel, Flour Daniel, Kellog Brown and Root, Foster wheeler, Stone and Webster and Mustang Engineering.
Bidders for the FEED contract were Kellogg Brown & Root, Technip and Worley. Technip and Worley were the front runners for the FEED contract.
New LPG facility at Das Island
To be located on Das Island in Abu Dhabi, the facility is expected to have a capacity to handle 1 million tonnes a year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It will also produce small volumes of pentane and sulphur.
The proposed new LPG train will utilise 220 million cubic feet a day of associated gas at varying pressure steams. The gas will be processed through gas compression, acid gas removal, gas drying, pre-cooling and fractionation to make the final products. Designs will allow for additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity to be built at a later date.
Schedule
Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (Adgas) invited consultants to bid for the FEED contract in August 2001. Bids were submitted in September 2001 and Chiyoda Corporation was appointed as the FEED consultant in January 2002.
The FEED was expected to be completed in 10 months time. Companies were invited by the client to submit by 15th January 2003 the technical bids for the EPC contract.
Adgas then extended the deadline date for the technical bids to 16th March 2003. Commercial bids were returned during early March 2003.
It is very likely that the project will be re-priced since the prices quoted are above budget. The client is currently reviewing the scope of works. Re-FEED on the project is being carried out. A re-tender for the EPC contract is likely to be issued in September 2004.
In view of the new LPG facility the client has initiated a 25-year masterplan on the future development of Das Island. The firms participating for the masterplan study are Halcrow, Mott MacDonald and Worley. Project duration will be 6 months.
Chiyoda Corp. submitted the lowest bids for the project (Dhs. 1780 million). The companies that submitted technical bids for the EPC contract by 16th March 2003 were Chiyoda Corp., JGC Corp., AMEC and Snamprogetti.
Chiyoda Corporation and Bechtel submitted bids for the FEED contract.
The project is to be implemented on a fast-track basis.
Zirku Production facilities’ debottlenecking
The client Zadco is 88 per cent owned by Adnoc with the remaining 12 per cent held by Japan Oil Development Company.
The project is aimed at increasing the capacity of the processing facilities from 600,000b/d to 700,000b/d through debottlenecking of the three existing trains and a standby unit. The project will be carried out in four phases involving identification of the hazardous operations of the existing oil, gas and water separation facilities and the bottlenecks, proposing modifications to increase output and carrying out basic engineering for the proposed project.
Asab Plant
Schedule
The tender for carrying out a conceptual study was issued in August 2002 with closing date on 2nd September 2002. The companies bidding for the study contract submitted revised commercial bids on 25th November 2002. The bidders were Veco, Foster Wheeler, Mott MacDonald, Tebodin and Technip.
Tebodin Middle-East was appointed as the study consultant in December 2002. Tender for the Front End Engineering Design contractor is likely to be issued in the 4th quarter of 2004.
FEED duration is expected to be one year. EPC tender will be issued after completion of the FEED.
DCS upgrade at Bab and Asab
The project being undertaken for Gasco calls for an instrumentation upgrade from the existing pneumatic system to Distributed Control System (DCS) at the onshore Bab and Asab oil fields.
Schedule
International consultants submitted technical bids in June 2002 for the front end engineering and design contract. Six companies submitted commercial bids on 9th December 2002 for the FEED contract. These were Technip, Worley, Veco, Cegelec, Mott MacDonald and McConnell Dowell. Mott MacDonald submitted the lowest price for the project followed by Technip. Mott MacDonald was appointed FEED consultant for the project in February 2003. The FEED duration is 48 weeks.
The tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor was issued during the second quarter of 2004. The bidders are understood to include Abu Dhabi-based UTS (Abu Dhabi), Technip and Cegelec. An award is expected in October 2004.
Abu Dhabi Gas Grid
The Abu Dhabi gas grid will be the second district gas grid after the Sharjah gas grid.
The proposed grid will supply gas to about 120,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Abu Dhabi. It will cover Abu Dhabi and the surrounding areas, Al Ain and Ruwais. The construction will start from Abu Dhabi city. The network will be considerably larger than the Sharjah gas grid.
Schedule
Pre-qualifications were submitted on 25th March 2003 for a FEED study contract covering a new natural gas network in Abu Dhabi. The FEED tender was issued on 19th October 2003 and the bid submission date was on 6th December 2003.
Bidders for the FEED contract were Pipeline Engineering (PLE), Lootah BC Gas (Terasen Int’l), Mott Macdonald, Penspen International and Adventica. Ventures Middle East was bidding for the detailed market study (front end marketing studies) with some of the aforementioned bidders.
On 23rd November 2003, the bid submission date was extended to 13th December 2003. The successful bidder in addition to preparing tenders for the EPC package would also be involved in the preparation of a detailed market study and engineering design, supply and installation of a network analysis system. FEED will take 6 months to complete. Lootah BC Gas was appointed as the FEED consultant in July 2004.
Companies responded by 18th October 2003 for the PMC contract. Four companies were understood to have responded to an initial inquiry for the post of PMC by the 18th October 2003 deadline. The deadline for initial query for the post of PMC was extended to 14th February 2004. Tender for the position of PMC was issued in July 2004 with bid submission during mid-August 2004. Tender for the EPC contractor is expected to be issued in the second half of 2005.
Bu Hasa gas lift project
The project involves boosting output from Adco’s existing old oil fields in Bu Hasa. The process will be carried out through gas re-injection.
Schedule
Mott MacDonald was appointed as the front end engineering and design consultant in September 2004. The five bidders for the FEED contract were Veco, Mott MacDonald, Technip, Worley and Tebodin Middle East
Bunduq gas re-injection platform
The offshore Al Bunduq field, located on the border between Abu Dhabi and Qatar, has been in production since 1975. The project calls for the injection of 40 million cubic meters/day of gas into the Al Bunduq oil field to maintain pressure.
The scope of work includes the installation of a new platform jacket, a deck, a bridge between the existing gas sweetening platform and the proposed deck and related facilities.
Bunduq Company Limited’s objectives for the implementation of the project are to comply with the ‘policy of near zero flaring’ and to improve the reservoir performance by re-injection of the produced gas into the reservoir.
Umm Al Shaif ADMA-OPCO
Schedule
Engineers India Limited (EIL) was awarded a contract to review and optimise the front end engineering and design for the project. EIL was expected to complete its study by mid-December 2002.
Three companies submitted bids for the engineering procurement and construction contract on 23rd August 2003. The original tender on the project was cancelled and a new tender was issued. Larsen & Toubro won the US$52.5 million contract for the project, and was appointed in July 2004. The project duration is expected to be 18 months. The bidders for the EPC contract were Technip, Larsen & Toubro and NPCC.
The composite single deck gas injection platform will be ‘bridge linked’ to an existing gas sweetening platform. The 1900-metric-tonne topside will house all the equipment, viz., the associated gas and acid gas compressor modules, glycol dehydration package, instrument air and nitrogen package, pedestal crane, switchgear and control rooms and other miscellaneous facilities for maintenance and operation of the plant and equipment.
Bunduq Company Limited, a company incorporated in Abu Dhabi, is jointly held by United Petroleum Development Company (33.3 per cent), BP Exploration (33.3 per cent) and Total (33.3 per cent). The field operator is United Petroleum Development Company, Japan. The royalties of production are shared between the governments of Qatar and UAE.
Qatar and UAE have representation in the company’s management through nominees from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Qatar Petroleum (QP)
Source: Ventures Middle East |
