Abstract
In view of ADNOC's vision towards optimization, efficiency and profitability, GASCO along with its Operating Companies is committed to ensure process design optimization. In line with this a project was implemented using the same existing pipeline to accommodate the additional feed gas coming from offshore production facilities.
A 30-inch dense phase pipeline is originally designed to accommodate a normal capacity of 200 MMSCFD Feed Gas with an operating pressure of 148-97 barg (varies based on transported gas composition). The design capacity of this pipeline is 530 MMSCFD. The feed gas supplements the LP gas already being delivered through the OAG facilities and this brings the total of LP OAG and HP Integrated Gas Development (IGD) gases to 1000 MMSCFD.
Several studies were conducted such as dense phase pipeline transient hydraulic analysis to ensure the pipeline's ability to handle the additional capacity running at 207km long.
Additional capacity can be handled in the existing 30-inch pipeline in terms of operational modification within the operating envelope; for example, the inlet pressure to the pipeline is limited to a maximum of 152 bara. The analysis for this study proved that the combined OAG and IGD feed gas does not cause the pipeline to experience temperatures close to the minimum design temperature of -10°C. The limited design capacity was overcome by increasing the operating pressure in order to achieve the dense phase region and the new capacity.
A fluid within the dense phase region has significant benefits, primarily emphasizing on a low CAPEX and OPEX, amongst which are the following:
Lower fluid velocity
Smaller inside diameter
Higher potential for NGL extraction
Slug Catcher is not required
