Mott MacDonald’s commission by Zakum Development Company (ZADCO) Abu Dhabi as Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) consultant to replace diesel generators at Arzana Island is under way.
Part of ZADCO’s Satah oilfield, situated 200km offshore of Abu Dhabi, Arzana Island has water injection facilities as well as utility and accommodation loads and requires around 3.5 to 4 megawatts of power. As natural gas is not available on the island, power turbines are operated on liquid fuel (diesel). To reduce fuel consumption, ZADCO had replaced some of its turbines with high-speed diesel generators. The high-speed generators proved to be more fuel efficient but operated with recurring problems and occasional major breakdowns.
Mott MacDonald’s services were required by ZADCO to assist with the replacement of the diesel generators with new diesel generators to give improved performance for the power plant operation.
Mott MacDonald’s engineers carried out an in-depth failure analysis to establish the root cause of the problems with the existing diesel generators and suggested that the client select medium speed diesel generator sets that could provide the desired operational reliability.
It is envisaged that phase one of the project will see the installation of two new diesel generators with 13.8kV and 60Hz terminal voltage inside a customer designed engine room. Mott MacDonald’s professionals were commissioned to provide design and engineering services as well as cost consultancy services for the project, in addition to health and safety and environmental impact assessments.
Capital outlay for both phase one and phase two of the project will be around US$18 million.
Alex Jacob, Mott MacDonald’s project director explained, “The only way to access Arzana is by fixed wing aircraft for people or supply boats for shipments, as such replacing generator equipment and power management systems is not straightforward. Mott MacDonald has an excellent track record in oil, gas and petroleum engineering and technical consultancy and we were delighted that ZADCO selected us for this commission.”
