Gothenberg, Sweden-based compressor unit specialist Kemostål Process Technology AB won a major order from leading global oil companies from Singapore and the UK last year.
The project saw Kemostål deliver one of the largest and most advanced eco-friendly compressor system to be provided by a Swedish company in the last five years.
Kemostål Process Technology AB has used more than 35,000 hours for design and manufacture.
The scope of supply is a two-storey compressor module of a total of 70m2. With dual two-stage compressor sets, process gas and compressor heat exchangers, water separator, more than 400 valves and 150 different instruments.
It is controlled and ensured that the module is operated safely and reliably. The plant is expected to be operational at least for 25 years, therefore the entire project has been designed and manufactured in accordance with the market’s highest requirements for the oil and gas Industry.
For performance monitoring, a specially designed control system has been included to operate the compressor module locally on-board the floating storage offloading vessel (FSO), as well as from a land-based control room.
Kemostål Process Technology managing director Lars Klingstrom said: “major efforts are made to minimise the use of fossil fuels, which it is easy to understand that oil and gas will be recovered over a long period of time, before renewable energy takes over the role of oil and gas today”.
Kemostål’s customer is exploiting a new gas field that is fully expanded to be one of the largest in the North Sea.
The new gas field is expected to meet more than 5% of the UK’s natural gas demand.
In connection with the field’s production and residential platforms, the operator will invoke a newly built FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading vessel) in order to store the oil that comes as a refuelling from gas production.
Kemostål’s compressor module will continuously handle the hydrocarbon compounds (gas) that are formed when the oil is pumped from the field to the FSO’s tanks.
The benefit is that the stored hydrocarbon compounds will be taken care of and will be a significant energy supplement, as the gas can be used as fuel in heating situations or to drive gas-powered generators aboard FSOs.
Traditionally, the gas has been vented or flared / burned by a torch straight into the air.
With the new regulations, this is not allowed now, and instead a so-called cargo vapour recovery (CVR) or vapour recovery unit (VRU) compressor module is installed to avoid the release of unburnt hydrocarbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Kemostål’s process module is therefore an important part of the efforts to safeguard the environment as much as possible.
Swedish industry has long been engaged as a subcontractor to major oil and gas companies worldwide, for example the supply of electric motors, heat exchangers and gas turbines.
However, for a number of years, such a complex and advanced complete process module has not been manufactured as the one that Kemostål built.
For more information, please contact the company via the enquiries form.