Dutch firm Fugro has bagged a five-year contract for the support and maintenance of the seabed water temperature monitoring system at the offshore platforms providing feedstock to Shell’s Pearl gas to liquids (GTL) plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar.
Fugro will provide an engineer and support for weather monitoring software, with local 24-hour support in Qatar will be provided by trained engineers from associate company Petrotec.
The temperature monitoring system operates in real time, and was designed and installed by Fugro. It provides real time data to help minimise flow assurance problems in gas pipelines which link the two offshore platforms to the onshore plant.
Pearl GTL is fed by gas from two offshore platforms in Qatar’s north field, which together pump 1.6 billion cubic feet per day to the facility.
“Monitoring the seabed water temperature has contributed to maintaining a steady flow of feed gas from the offshore platforms to the onshore facility,” said the director of Fugro Geos’ offshore systems division, Anthony Gaffney. “The ability to accurately measure the water temperature along the export pipelines and identify when kinetic hydrate inhibitors are needed eliminates the need to purchase, transport, store, pump and then remove the inhibitors and this translates into cost savings.”
