Keeping the lights on downstream

Fortunately, the local oil and gas industry has attracted a plethora of companies that are willing and able to provide power solutions should the need ever arise.

“Electricity is the lifeblood of business. Without it, refineries cease to function, mining stops, and manufacturing assemblies grind to a halt,” says Peter den Boogert, general manager of Altaaqa Global CAT Rental Power. CAT rental power solutions provide electricity to key cities around the world, from 20 MW to 100 MW temporary power plants or more.

“The ability of an electric utility power line to perform at its peak as a profound effect on your bottom line,” he adds.

But specifically in the refining and petrochemicals industry, the most immediate demand for temporary power arises during the construction phase.

“Most downstream projects have permanent power infrastructure, however the power availability might not be with them from the start of their construction,” explains Phil Burns, Aggreko’s managing director for the Middle East.

As the region’s refining and petrochemicals sectors become more integrated it will see much larger projects, like Sadara, spring up across its landscape. “Saudi Arabia is a growing market for Petrochemical plants, there is potential that they could be off-grid and require temporary power,” says Burns.

Owing to the size of some construction projects for the industry, it is evident that power demand standards for construction of refinery, petrochemical or oil and gas sites are totally different to the requirements of a commercial construction site.

“Refinery construction, and oil and gas projects require specialised skills and significant experience of project managing for this sector,” explains Burns.

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“Specific QHSE standards and a complete bespoke solution and equipment certifications is required by the oil and gas industry. Commercial or residential construction sites require power generators and/or temperature control equipment on site that also adhere to stringent QHSE standards but the equipment tends to be more standard,” he adds.

In addition to maintaining a steady supply of power, refining companies require consistent air and gas pressure. In the exploration and production sector, high pressure compressors, over 2000psi, are used in Seismic survey operations offshore to produce waves from air-guns.
Compressed air and gas is also used in underbalanced drilling of reservoir wells.

They are also used for drilling waste management, reservoir well testing, gas/oil flaring and for enhanced oil recovery process.

Dmitry Karablinov, product manager for large compressors at Atlas Copco Portable Energy, explains how high-pressure air and gas compressor packages have wide applications in midstream and downstream processes as well.

“Onshore activities in downstream require compressed air and gas for maintenance activities and oil and gas distribution in pipelines, vessels and storage tanks. In all three phases they are widely used as instrument air,” he explains.

Atlas Copco provides solutions for these phases with portable diesel engine driven air compressors, nitrogen generators, boosters and dryers to clients throughout the energy industry in the region and globally.

“In the refining and petrochemical process, our class O, portable diesel engine driven oil free air compressors, […] along with nitrogen air generators, have an important role in supplying compressed air and gas for various instruments like valves and actuators. They are widely used during maintenance activities like pipeline cleaning and drying operations,” he adds.

There are a number of factors that must be considered when selecting compressor technology, and for Karablinov, these are higher utilisation, lower operational expenses, safety and high productivity.

“Higher utilisation means maximising the usage of the equipment and its longevity to focus on higher uptime. Lower cost of operation includes reducing fuel consumption, service expenses, as well as transportation and capex costs. This mainly focuses on increasing the customer’s profitability,” he explains.

High productivity refers to maximising the production of oil and gas through the efficient operation of Atlas Copco’s equipment, for example, our equipment is capable of delivering high pressure and high volume air that influences productivity with higher drilling rates and higher bailing velocity during drilling.

In case of pipeline pressure testing, we design and provide solutions to reduce the time required for testing the pipelines considering the ambient conditions of operation,” he says.