Honeywell sweetened its summer with major sour gas and PKS deals. Oil & Gas Middle East finds out where the process control giant’s sights are focused next.
Honeywell is following a strong summer of announcements and project wins in the regional upstream industry by building greater Middle Eastern engineering and sales capacity, and has its sights set on winning more deals before the year is out.
Oil & Gas Middle East met with Abu Dhabi-based Mansour Belhadj, regional sales director, Honeywell Process Solutions, Middle East, to discuss a summer of success, and find out what’s next for the process control and automation giant in the regional energy business.
“In June we were delighted to announce we had been selected to collaborate with Abu Dhabi Gas Development Company Ltd (ADGDCL) for the Shah Gas Development Project, which is expected to significantly increase the Emirate’s domestic gas supply,” begins Belhadj.
Indeed, when the proposed project – green-lit despite the late withdrawal of Conoco-Phillips earlier this year, reaches full production capacity in 2014, the site is expected to yield some 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Although the Shah Gas field was discovered more than 40 years ago, dangerously high levels of hydrogen sulfide have prevented ADNOC from extracting the gas, which is critical to domestic and industrial growth in the region. To help reduce the risk of safety incidents, Honeywell is providing its Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) and Safety Manager technologies, which can be integrated to give personnel a complete view of process and safety information across the site.
“Honeywell will also provide its OneWireless industrial wireless network both inside the plant and at the gathering field well pads to track key personnel and assets during both construction and operational phases,” explains Belhadj.
In addition to the control system, operators at the Shah site will be equipped with wireless gas detectors that will transmit alerts when dangerous gases are detected. They will also have Honeywell’s wireless Dolphin handheld and Webpad computers that will allow them to develop consistent and safe operating rounds and procedures and view and manage key control parameters.
“Wireless will be an integral part of the system for ADGDCL project. It will be used for gas detection – we will have sensors at every installation around the plant, and through the wireless technology the operators will know immediately when and where gas is detected, as well as the location of all staff within the plant,” says Belhadj.
Wireless infrastructure will also help to create a better assessment of equipment health monitoring, through constant assessment and feedback covering the reliability and performance of all the equipment around the plant. “The rollout of wireless throughout the project will definitely help us meet our targets of operating the plant safely, efficiently and reliably for the Shah Gas Development. All of our technologies are integrated with Experion Process Knowledge,” explains Belhadj.
“Wireless technology can also be used for wireless video monitoring. This is useful to analyse what is happening in real time, or from recorded video, what is happening with a component or piece of machinery at any time.”
Honeywell will provide a full system integration, so operators can view all of the wireless videos on their computer screens or wireless workpads. Other advanced applications will include Honeywell’s UniSim Operations simulation technology, which ADGDCL will use to train plant personnel several months in advance of startup, and advanced process control software that will help optimise gas plant operations.
“All of the training can be undertaken locally. We have included Honeywell UniSim technology which is an operator training simulator, which will ensure all Shah Gas staff and personnel are well trained ahead of plant commissioning.”
Belhadj says the training typically starts around six to nine months ahead of commissioning, to enable operators to get comfortable and capable with operating the facility well ahead of operational start-up.
“This will help operators and developers understand every facet of the plant, and understand how to run the plant safely, efficiently and reliably. The training is used ahead of commissioning, but at the same time it will be used for ongoing training, so operators, at any time, can be trained, and to monitor their ability to react to abnormal situations, and learn to resolve those situations in a safe, predictable and reliable way.”
Belhadj says that with a project as significant as the Shah gas development, training will invariably be an ongoing process. “All the training will be managed out of Abu Dhabi. Honeywell Middle East has an excellent training centre in the UAE capital, and we intend to provide both offsite and onsite training as required by the customer at every stage.”
Dolphin delight
This summer Honeywell also confirmed it is working with Dolphin Energy in Qatar to upgrade its existing Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) servers, stations and software online at its gas processing plant at Ras Laffan Industrial City to further improve the facility’s efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.
Belhadj says the upgrade will enable the enhancement of production processes at the plant in Ras Laffan, which is the largest single build plant in the world and central to Dolphin’s operations in the region. Dolphin Energy produces and processes natural gas from Qatar’s offshore North Field. The processed gas is then transported to the UAE via an undersea pipeline.
“As part of the project, Honeywell will upgrade nine Experion servers and 45 Experion stations to Honeywell certified Experion system hardware platforms, allowing Dolphin to optimise their integrated control system performance and sustain their automation investments,” he adds.
The project also includes an upgrade of the facility’s system software to the latest release, including its operating system.
“Dolphin Energy’s decision to upgrade its Experion systems reaffirms its commitment to setting high standards in maintenance of open systems, while reducing costs and boosting plant safety and efficiency,” adds Belhadj.
Remarkably the entire migration will take place without taking the Dolphin system coming offline. “We can assure our operators that we will carry out the full migration while the plant is running. Our internal procedures involved in a migration are very strict and rigorous. We have a full service team in the Middle East and we ensure production remains online while the migration takes place fully and reliably,” says Belhadj.
“Dolphin’s goals were to carry out the full migration without affecting productivity,” he added.
The Road Ahead
Belhadj says that the two big ticket wins this summer should be indicative of more to come. “The project pipeline we are looking at today in the Middle East is very busy. There are a number of greenfield and brownfield projects which are very exciting in the region.”
Belhadj says that a good percentage of that work is related to oil and gas activities, and refineries, and highlights three markets in particular which stand out in terms of projected opportunities for technology companies in the energy sphere in the Middle East.
“We are committed to the whole region, but we are also looking at the main growth areas. The GCC is obviously growing, but we have a special focus on Saudi Arabia, which is a massive market and expanding rapidly, on Iraq which has tremendous potential, and in the UAE where oil and gas developments are very exciting.”
In Iraq, Belhadj says the upstream oil and gas project work in is ongoing. “Most of the projects are on a fast-track basis, and some refinery projects are being initiated. There are four major refineries and most of the feed contracts are placed.”
Honeywell is engaged with major projects in Iraq already, through its Enraf division for custody transfer solutions. “Our Enraf engineers are engaged in each and every single opportunity in Iraq. The volume of business is large and we are pursuing all of these opportunities vigorously.”
The company is also aiming to leverage KSA opportunities, and is committing more resources there right now. “Honeywell
is undertaking a significant investment in Saudi Arabia.
We are building brand new facilities at Dhahran Techno Valley, which are next door to Saudi Aramco, and increasing our staff in engineering, and sales and support roles in order to be closer to our customers.”
Belhadj say the company’s installed base of controlled systems throughout the region is large, which puts it in a strong position now that the brownfield pipeline of opportunity is looking quite strong too. “At the same time we are pursuing very aggressively all other greenfield projects which are in the region. We have not seen the impact of the worldwide recession in these markets. 2010 looks definitely better than 2009, and last year delivered growth on previous years too.
The outlook is strong and I would say that we expect growth in terms of business opportunities, of about 30% next year,” he concludes.
