Page 127 - Industrial Plants

Oman turns to WEG to enhance gas

recovery in major depletion project

Achieving maximum productivity from oil and gas fields is the prime goal for the
petrochemical industry but the extraction process becomes more difficult as fields
become depleted.With this in mind, leading global manufacturer of motor and
drive technology,WEG,has developed bespoke variable speed drive systems to
help with extraction from some of Oman’s older oil fields where the natural
pressure is beginning to fade

oosting extraction from depleting
reserves is part of a US$33 billion
project which aims to enhance
Oman’s hydrocarbon production
capabilities and help the country
Bbroaden its economic base.It is
expected that Oman will unlock about one trillion cubic
metres of natural gas over the next 25 years,
representing a long term sustainable competitive
feedstock for its petrochemical industry. Plans are also
afoot to develop downstream industries such as the
production of Ethylene Dichloride (EDC), Caustic Soda
and other chemicals.

As part of this major effort, the PDO SaihRawl Field
Depletion Project, Phase 2, will see US$550 million
invested on developing a daily gas production capacity
of 30 million cubic metres, which will be fed to the compressorwith an efficient drive system, which could
existing SaihRawl central processing facility. Extra endure the most demanding applications.
compressors will be installed to increase the pressure
so that gas continues to flow, enabling the field to feed To meet such needs, WEG has developed a bespoke
the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry while offering a solution comprising48 30kW variable speed drives and
back-up when other plants are shut down for motors and 32 15kW drives and motors,which have
maintenance. been supplied as systems and mounted in control
cabinets, and also includea high capacity circuit breaker
Electric motors willplay a key role in ensuring that such for emergency cut outs and a by-pass system for DOL
compressors runefficiently, smoothly and reliably, as (direct on line) starting. Additionally, WEG has fitted its
they will be responsible for driving their suction and equipment with a passive input harmonic filter to
discharge cooler fans. Bearing in mind that electric reduce problems relating to mains borne corruption of
motor-driven systems (EMDS) are the largest individual the power supply, while an output filter will be used to
source of energy use, accounting for 45% of the protect the drive.
world’s electricity consumption, and over half of this
energy demand originates from motors used in fans WEG’svariable speed drive systems have been tested
1
and compressors, Indian company Larsen & Toubro at its manufacturing facility in Brazil in the presence of
decided to partner with WEGto equip the main gas inspectors from PDO and Larsen & Toubro to simulate

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