New relations

Among the most important trends in the oil and gas industry today are environmental legislation, deepwater production and the ability to exploit reserves of heavy crude oil and stranded gas. These all call for equipment that can live up to even higher demands for efficiency as well as being able to meet the space and weight limitations associated with installation on offshore platforms. With new equipment and new technologies comes the need for closer, long-term working relationships with fewer, carefully selected suppliers whose knowhow and technology make a contribution. This issue of our Near newsletter focuses on some of the ways that we at Alfa Laval work with our customers throughout the world as knowledge providers.

The partnership dividend

In the oil and gas industry of today, it is no longer enough simply to provide good, reliable equipment. Every item and system is part of a larger whole, and has a cost profile that is interdependent throughout its working life on many of the other systems on board the rig, platform or vessel. Behind the equipment lies know-how, experience and the ability to act as a partner that has a practical, results-oriented approach and makes an active contribution to getting the job done preferably better than expected. At Alfa Laval, we are in a unique position to do this because of our strong position in virtually all parts of the value chain: R&D and technology manufacturing project management and logistics skilled local presence Knowledge involves more than just the technology: it also involves being able to deal with the practical consequences of both current and future environmental legislation, and with all the developments and changes in the oil and gas industrys many production methods. Long-term cooperation also means more openness and trust, less need to protect information, and better collaboration on a day-to-day basis. Working closer together makes it possible to give our customers greater value through quality improvements and reductions in duplicated effort or sub-optimal operation, as well as better process control, reduced lead time and improved communication.

Newsletter for the oil and gas industry Oil sands separation FALCON module Gas sweetening YUKOS Oil

May 2003

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Know-how makes the differ

Photo Courtesy of Syncrude Inc.

with this type of feedstock, says Ed Knox, technical adviser for extraction at Syncrudes Mildred Lake plant. After primary separation, the raw oil diluted with water and naphtha gas to make it flow more easily is separated from sand, water and other debris using disc-stack nozzle centrifuges supplied by Alfa Laval. Meeting challenges together Before reaching the extraction plant, the oil sand contains about 60% oil, 30% water and 10% solids. When the oil leaves the plant, the water content is down to 1.31.5% and solids are less than 0.6%. This involves some extremely heavy-duty separation work. We had some learning regarding wear on the Alfa Laval centrifuges, says Ed Knox. That, and solids build-up, were the biggest issues for us. Over the years Alfa Laval has seen our different challenges and, based on our feedstock, worked with us to respond to them.

The Athabasca Oil Sands cover an area larger than Ireland. Together, they contain a third of the worlds known oil reserves (an estimated 1.72.5 trillion barrels of heavy oil). Syncrude Canada Ltd., the largest oil sands-based crude oil production facility in the world, has mined these oil sands 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ever since 1978. The company produces almost a quarter of a million barrels of high-quality, light crude oil a day, meeting more than 13% of Canadas petroleum needs. Repeat orders Following on from previous orders in 1978 and 1994, Alfa Laval won a new contract in 2001 to supply the nozzle type centrifuges for the new plant. There are therefore a total of 80 machines now installed at the site. Syncrude and one other enterprise are the only companies working on this scale and

FALCON Alfa Laval recently released the new FALCON fuel treatment module. Based on a fuel centrifuge, this new fuel oil unit was designed specifically to meet the demands of the oil and gas industry. Thanks to a re-engineered modular design, performance has been boosted by 10%, at the same time as achieving a 30% reduction in both manufacturing costs and delivery times.

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In 2001, the YUKOS Oil Corporation decided to evaluate Compabloc for use in the expansion of the giant Russian oil companys gas sweetening plant at the Syzran Oil Refinery.

Why gas sweetening improves with Compabloc Besides the obvious benefits of compact heat exchangers, condensers and reboilers built from corrosion-resistant materials, using a Compabloc unit provides a number of additional process benefits: high recovery of heat between the lean amine and rich amine. This makes the entire installation more compact and minimizes the energy input to the reboiler excellent heat transfer and full utilization of the energy value in both heating and cooling media low hold-up volume, which reduces the amount of recirculated amine and provides accurate control of the process high shear stress that minimizes fouling rapid, easy access for cleaning The advanced design of the Alfa Laval Compabloc provides durable solutions built using state-of-the-art manufacturing methods.

Highly efficient Alfa Laval Compabloc condensers and reboilers take up very little space and yet are highly efficient in operation. YUKOS therefore installed Compabloc thermosiphon reboilers at the base of one of the stripper columns, and a Compabloc reflux condenser directly on the top of the column. This stripper column is used in the gas sweetening process, in which hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is absorbed in 15% MEA solution and then removed at the top of the column. The H2S is subcooled down to 40C in a condenser. Compabloc reflux Mounting the Compabloc reflux condenser directly on the stripper column provides substantial cost savings for the foundations, piping and pumps. The alternative was a shell-and-tube unit mounted at ground level, with piping for the vapour going down, and piping and a pump for the reflux going back up to the top of the column.

Compabloc thermosiphon The reboilers installed at the YUKOS plant also provide a good example of the Compabloc thermosiphon concept, with the medium circulating without using a pump. The process medium enters at the bottom and is distributed through the channels. As the liquid passes through, it is brought to boiling point, and a mixture of vapour and liquid exits from a larger connection at the top. Reduced downtime The Compabloc units have been in operation since January 2002, and the general consensus of opinion at the Syzran plant is that these units work extremely well. Inspection and cleaning are seldom required, but these tasks are made easy due to the minimal space requirements and by using two parallel reboilers. Downtime is thus significantly reduced compared with shelland-tube units.

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Hammerfest LNG plant Alfa Laval received a large contract for delivery of gasketed and semi-welded plate heat exchangers as well as Compabloc units to the Hammerfest LNG plant in Norway. The natural gas will be delivered from the large Snhvit (Snow White) gas field, off the coast of northernmost Norway. The contractor is the German company Linde, while the ultimate owner and operator will be the
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Norwegian company Statoil. A delivery date of 2003 has been set and operation will begin during 2006.

Caspian Sea development with Alfa Laval Alfa Laval is among the companies supporting the new development in the Caspian Sea region. Last year, two plate heat exchangers were delivered to the Azerbaijan International tractor, Halliburton International Operating Company for use on Inc., were so impressed with the an offshore production platform service provided by Alfa Laval operating in the Azerbaijan secthat they have placed an order tor of the Caspian Sea. for six additional units this year. The company and its main con-

Energy savings on the Tarantula Anadarko decided to find an optimal solution for the crude dehydration process together with Alfa Laval. On the Tarantula platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the primary heater will be an Alfa

platform Laval plate heat exchanger where the heat is taken from the dry crude oil to save energy. Also the dry oil cooler and the cooling water cooler will be Alfa Laval plate heat exchangers.

The Alfa Laval newsletter Near, provides direct news and information on Alfa Laval projects and the scope of supply for our customers in the oil and gas industry. Each issue of the newsletter keeps you updated with the latest innovations, solutions and industry news, focusing on ways that Alfa Laval customers use our equipment throughout the world. For additional information and contacts, please visit www.alfalaval.com For additional information and contacts, please visit www.alfalaval.com Responsible editor: Tobias Svensson, tobias.svensson@alfalaval.com