|
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is preparing to launch work on a new gas plant project that will help boost output of much-needed natural gas by over 1 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd). The green-field project will be built at Zauliyah in central Oman adjacent to PDO’s existing Zauliyah Oil Production Station. The new facility will process non-associated gas and produced fluids from the Zauliyah oil field.
A number of local and international engineering contractors are in the fray for a contract to build the Zauliyah Gas Plant project which, while smaller than PDO’s gas processing plants at Saih Rawl and Saih Nihayda, among other locations, will still make a significant contribution to the company’s gas output. Estimated to cost in the range of $100-150 million, the plant will process gas flows and produced fluids from the Hasirah and Hawqa fields in the Bahja-Rima area of PDO’s concession. The successful bidder will be awarded an Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) to build a full fledged processing facility with a capacity to treat up to 1.2 mmscmd of gas.
In addition to gas handling facilities and processing trains, the project scope also calls for the installation of flowlines and other off-plot facilities. According to officials, the Hasirah and Hawqa fields are characterised as oil and gas reservoirs located in the Gharif and Buah formations. While the Hasirah oil reservoir has been in production since the mid 1980s, the Hawqa field was brought into operation in 1997.
Slated to be brought on stream in 2015, processed dry gas from the Zauliyah plant will be exported to customers via the existing South Oman Gas Line. Off-gas from the plant will be channelled to the associated gas facility of the nearby Zauliyah Oil Production Station where it will be mixed and used for the station’s gas lift compressors. Produced water from the gas plant will be routed to the oil production station’s dehydration tanks.
As gas is continuously produced, wellhead pressure is projected to decline over the lifetime of the field. It is predicted that by the year 2025 only the Hawqa field will continue to produce gas.
WorleyParsons provided the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the gas plant project. A contract award is expected within the next few weeks, it is learnt.
|
