Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has announced that it is inviting tenders for the construction of four parallel compression trains – with a total capacity of 30 million standard cu m of gas per day – at its largest gas field.
Saih Rawl is the largest gas field in Oman and has been in production since 1991, catering to much of gas demand in the north of the Sultanate.
With reservoir pressure in the Saih Rawl Main field set to continuously fall in the coming years, a further ramp-up of depletion compression capacity will become necessary in 2015 when levels decline to 35 bar in the first quarter of that year.
SRDC2, as Phase 2 of the Saih Rawl Depletion Compression project is dubbed, is targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2015 to enable reduction of inlet pressure from 35 to 13 bar.
The Phase 2 package calls for the construction of four parallel compression trains with a total capacity of 30 million standard cubic metres of gas per day.
In addition, the selected contractor will also install 76 MW of gas compression capacity, and carry out some modifications to the condensate handling system at the Central Processing Plant.
Furthermore, a pair of inlet separators will be installed to handle the gas streams from Saih Rawl South, Saih Rawl Oil gas line, and the Barik and Mabrouk fields.
These inlet separators will be designed for a total gas handling capacity of 18 MMSCMD of gas, which will be routed to existing compression trains built as part of the first phase development of the depletion compression project.
A contract is likely to be awarded in the coming months, according to sources.
The phase 2 development comes after the inauguration last month of the first phase of the Saih Rawl Depletion Compression project which is an estimated $550m (OMR 211.1m) investment that strengthens PDO’s position in Oman’s gas industry.
Saih Rawl, the largest gas field in the country, has been in production since 1991 and has catered to much of gas demand in the North of Oman.
However, with the Saih Rawl field gradually reaching maturity, resulting in a decline in reservoir pressure, PDO has had to resort to a technique known as depletion compression.
This enables sustained production and increases ultimate recovery from the field, by reducing the back-pressure at the wellhead and boosting the inlet pressure from 35 bar to 96 bar for exports.
Phase 1 of the Saih Rawl Depletion Compression Project, which was completed and commissioned last year, has a capacity of 48 MMSCMD.
Also built as part of the Phase 1 package is a new power station with a total capacity of 120 MW to cater for increased power demand.
