ADNOC upgraded its Upper Zakum pumps using SPX FLOW’s Abu Dhabi Service Centre. The remote field in Upper Zakum utilises 56 Plenty® TRIRO three screw pumps, which are being used for the transfer of crude oil from the wellhead to storage tanks, before being transferred onshore.
Although the pumps have worked well since they were installed in 1982, changes in the quality of the crude oil being pumped (which now contains sand, slurry and increased water cut), ADNOC Offshore’s OSMS-RM job officer Slahadin Ali Ashair conducted a study which concluded with a recommendation to improve the metallurgy of the pumps’ screws to allow this ‘new’ quality of crude oil to be pumped either by hardening, replacement or carrying out replacement of the pumps in their entirety.
Based on Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) and referral to SPX FLOW (the OEM), ADNOC Offshore decided to embark on the most technoeconomical solution, being a pumps’ screws upgrade program (using Plasma hardening/ coating) which would change the pump materials to make them more resistant to wear and failure and re-engineering the pumps for increased capacity. As part of a rolling program, SPX FLOW has been upgrading the pumps at its Abu Dhabi Service Centre with a two-week turnaround on each pump.
To date, 12 of the Upper Zakum pumps have been upgraded and re-installed on site. They are all operating normally and reliably. The SPX FLOW Abu Dhabi Service Centre has the technology and expertise to service and repair or replace all types of two and three screw pumps. It can replace all internal pump components and provide comprehensive, local, tailored OEM aftermarket engineering solutions to clients in the Middle East region.
The Upper Zakum oilfield is located north-west of Abu Dhabi islands and is the second largest offshore oilfield in the world. As one of the Upper Zakum joint venture partners, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is a 60% owner, and its offshore arm operates the field.Â
