Oil & Gas

The Client
The refinery at Brod (Bosnia) had suffered significant damage during the Balkan war. The refinery required a significant but undefined level of investment to meet full operational output.

The Challenge
The client wanted to identify & scope out any major and minor work to bring the refinery up to modern standards whilst maintaining a processing capacityof 5,000,000 barrels per year. GSA were initially brought in to advise the potential purchaser of the required levels of capital investment to improve the plants efficiency and operations.

The Solution

• A full refinery condition review taking into account the current state of each process unit
• Identification of world class standards for operations
• Gap analysis between the existing plants operations and benchmarked standards
• Identification & prioritisation of the upgrades
• Mix analysis for the possible feeds
• Market review
• Basic process engineering for the required upgrades
• Valuation of the refinery at different crude prices to allow a full economic analysis

Feedback
The project was delivered on time and to budget.

The Client
The Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), wanted to upgrade three oil facilities in the Persian Gulf. The original plant was designed and installed in the mid 1970's, also being heavily damaged during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's. With GSA's Iranian joint venture partner Hirgan Energy Engineering, the project resulted in almost 70,000 man-hours of design work across three facilities.

The Challenge
Each facility involved the design and economic evaluation of a number of conceptual designs. GSA aided the client in selecting the preferred designs, preparing the front end engineering design packages and procurement documentation to allow the client to move onto construction.

The Solution
The first development was the debottlenecking and renovation of four onshore crude oil facilities at Kharg Island. There were options to either upgrade the existing units or replace them by building an entirely new unit capable of meeting the processing capacity of 400,000 barrels a day for the next 25 years.

The second development was to resolve corrosion problems in a subsea transfer line. This was done by removing the water from the oil at the production platforms before it was pumped onshore. The project resulted in the water percentage dropping to 0.2 per cent by volume, improving corrosion problems dramatically.

Work at the third facility, on Lavan Island, resulted in the installation of a fire and gas detection system. An upgrade and extension of the existing fire fighting system with the provision of a new control room with modern DCS controls was completed.

Feedback
GSA completed the work in line with programme and budget requirements.

The Client:
Petroplus had determined that it had to lower the Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) to meet its sales specification of C4 hydrocarbons to meet the requirements of the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO).

The Challenge:
The Coryton refinery had to reduce the RVP of the gasoline to allow the addition of bioethanol. GSA were commissioned to perform a design review, assess the feasibility of using an existing propylene splitter column as a de-butaniser and reverting back to its original operation in the Winter.

The Solution:
Calculations and simulations were carried out to rate the column and its equipment for the new operation. The drag stream from the C4 isomerisation unit historically sent the product directly to the gasoline pool. Now it can feed the column in a de-butaniser service. The reduction in C4 in the gasoline blending pool decreased the RVP of the fuel.

GSA were responsible for the simulations, design review, piping routes, P&IDs, control philosophy, Hazop studies and operating procedures. The design work included the assessments and modifications to the column, ancillary equipment and associated control systems. The column was commissioned in July 2009 and is operating well within the design expectations.

Feedback
Petroplus Coryton Refinery Technical Manager, Graeme Mean, said “GSA input to this project has been invaluable. They effectively operated as an extension to our own engineering department which is often dealing with day to day refinery issues. Their performance assisted the refinery in meeting a strategic goal of meeting the requirements of the RTFO on time and on budget. I will look forward to working with them again“

The Client
GSA were initially contacted by McMurtrie Limited to review an existing crude processing facility as well as assist with the development of a new oil field for DNO International in Yemen.

The Challenge
DNO International were having some issues with an existing crude processing facility extracting more water than the facility was originally designed to extract. GSA were commissioned to engineer another crude production facility to replace the existing exploration treatment plant. The project required the transportation of crude oil to another production facility for final separation before it was exported. In addition to this, the gas extracted was used to fuel another crude processing facility 23km away.

The Solution
To handle the excess water GSA designed a system using a combination of skim tanks, surge tank, polishing filters and injection pumps with the required utility services. GSA engineered the expansion of the crude processing facility including a manifold, two & three phase separators along with a suitable flare system that could cope with the maximum gas flow rates from the wells.

Prior to this the gas also required conditioning, including dehydration before entry into the transport pipeline. The remaining gas required a suitable flare system. GSA carried out initial engineering including extensive simulation modelling using different throughput rates and pressures from the field.

Feedback
The client is currently constructing the process units GSA designed. The project was delivered on time and to budget.

The Client
The South Atlantic Refinery Company were proposing to develop a 200,000 barrels a day refinery, refining heavy crudes for the European Market. Using the most up-to-date technology SARC wanted to develop an integrated solution, generating fuel, power and hydrogen on its own accord resulting in a more efficient and cleaner operation. Shell Global Solutions, Kellogg Brown and Root were the technology licensors for the individual process units.

The Challenge
GSA's role was to act as the Clients Engineer to technically liaise with all interested parties including the relevant Brazilian Authorities, National & State Governments providing continuity between licensors and permitting authorities. GSA were also responsible for all of the technical support relating to all Environmental Impact Assessments.

The Solution
GSA provided a consistent approach with one voice for all regulatory authorities, achieving regulatory compliance for SARC's operations. In order to produce an integrated design for the refinery, GSA worked to develop the basic engineering packages for all refinery utilities and offsite monobuoys. This included the on & offloading facilities, tank farms, steam & power generation, flares & blowdowns, effluent treatment and other common refinery services.

Feedback
The project was delivered on time and to budget.