ECF Special Alloys, in conjunction with SPX Plenty and Petrofac, has upgraded Forties Alpha and Delta platforms in the Apache North Sea Oil Field.
Working on the ‘Petrofac Debottlenecking upgrade project’, ECF and SPX have manufactured new production gas scrubbers for the Alpha and Delta platforms.
Due to declining reservoir pressure in the APACHE field over the years, artificial lift in the form of deep gas lift (DGL) and downhole pumping was required to maintain production.
The Petrofac debottlenecking upgrade project has been designed to increase the DGL rate and therefore the production rate.
Together ECF and SPX have rebuilt the existing mothballed production gas scrubbers, originally manufactured from carbon steel back in the 1970s, with new ones now fabricated from Duplex 2205.
Specifically for this offshore project, ECF Special Alloys developed brand new weld procedures to enable standard Duplex 2205 weld metal to meet ASME G48 corrosion testing.