WEG, a global leader in motor, drive and automation technology, has secured its biggest oil and gas sector contract to date with two project framework agreements for the Duqm refinery in Oman. The contract encompasses both medium- and low-voltage equipment, and in addition WEG will establish an exclusive service centre close to the project site to serve the refinery.
The vast refinery is a greenfield project being developed by Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries, a joint venture between Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI). The refinery occupies a 900-hectare site located 600km south of Muscat on the west coast of Oman along the Arabian Sea.
Duqm has been designated as Oman’s next industrial centre – to be known as the Duqm Special Economic Zone – with investments of up to $15 billion earmarked for petrochemicals and infrastructure development over the next 15 years. Once the refinery is completed in 2022 it will have the capacity to process around 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with its primary products being diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and LPG.
WEG has been awarded the contracts by the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners, Técnicas Reunidas (Spain) and Daewoo Engineering and Construction (South Korea), and will deliver all the motors and variable speed drives (VSDs) for the project. The first contract covers medium-voltage equipment while the second is for low-voltage products.
The medium-voltage equipment includes 12 VSDs and more than 120 electric motors, including four 10,500kW 18-pole synchronous motors for the hydrogen makeup reciprocating compressors. Gas compressors are used extensively in refinery process units to compress hydrogen. For high-pressure applications such as hydrocracking, reciprocating compressors are used for makeup gas service. In these applications, synchronous motors provide higher efficiency, power factor correction and lower inrush current and operate at a constant speed, making them an excellent choice. The second contract is related to the low-voltage equipment and includes more than 1,300 electric motors and nearly 200 VSDs.
‘Projects like this require a flawless project management process as purchase orders will be placed by the selected mechanical rotating equipment vendors located worldwide through multiple WEG sales offices,’ said Luis Gustavo Lopes Iensen, international director of WEG. ‘To guarantee commercial consistency and technical compliance to the specification, a support team has been established at WEG’s HQ in Brazil.’
According to the client, the decision to award the contract was made following a very detailed technical and commercial negotiation process.
WEG has a rich heritage as a globally recognised supplier of premium electric products for the oil and gas industry. It has over 30 subsidiaries established in key countries around the world to provide technical and commercial support. It has manufacturing facilities strategically located in the main oil and gas markets along with a network of over 1,250 authorised service agents located in the five continents.
