Petroleos Brasileiro SA has started up the first gas processing plant in the Amazon region of Brazil.
Propak Systems Ltd., Airdrie, Alta., under an $8.8 million Petrobras contract, installed the plant to handle liquids associated with natural gas produced from Rio Urucu oil and gas field.
Start-up operations began Jan. 11, and the plant was commissioned at the end of January.
Petrobras found the field in 1986 in the Solimoes basin of Amazonas state, about 600 km southwest of Manaus, and has spent more than $150 million on exploration and development and related facilities (see map, OGJ, Feb. 12, 1990, p. 19).
The environmentally sensitive Urucu region is one of the most dense, remote jungles in the world.
PRODUCTION, MARKET CONCERNS
Urucu oil production currently averages about 11,000 b/d.
Urucu gas was 100% flared at first. Reinjection began in 1991, but excess deliverability of about 10 MMcfd has meant some flaring persists.
Petrobras is considering options for marketing Urucu gas, with a current productive capacity of about 35 MMcfd, including a possible pipeline to Porto Velho for power generation.
More likely is a low temperature liquefied natural gas terminal along the Solimoes River that could tie in the much bigger gas reserves in the nearby Jurua River area, pegged some years ago at 282 bcf (OGJ, Jan. 19, 1987, p. 26). Solimoes LNG could be transported via river vessel, avoiding the costly and environmentally contentious jungle pipeline.
Petrobras in 1989 estimated Rio Urucu's reserves at 85 million bbl of oil equivalent.
The company is considering adding compression to increase reinjection volumes and thus end flaring in the field. Plans call for more drilling in the next 6-12 months to prove up more productive capacity before trying to gauge how much more compression would be needed.
PROJECT SCOPE
Propak engineered and built the Urucu gas processing plant as skid modules in Canada with financing supplied by the Export Development Corp. of Canada.
Propak won the contract in July 1991 and completed work on schedule in late March 1992. Scope of work included engineering and fabrication of the plant's 16 skid modules, supply of two aerial coolers, six 7,140 bbl liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks, an electronic control panel, electrical switchgear, and related construction supervision, commissioning, and start-up services.
The plant is designed to process 23.5 MMcfd of solution gas using a mechanical refrigeration process to cool the gas to - 29 C. and recover 1,250 b/d of propane/butane mix as well as 75 b/d of stabilized condensate. Liquids are shipped from the plant to the Porto terminal 55 km away on the Tefe River for barge loading and further transport upriver to Manaus, where there is a 10,000 b/d refinery.
PROJECT DETAILS
To minimize field assembly problems, Propak designed and fabricated the plant, including main piperacks, on skid modules and prefabricated all interconnecting pipe spools.
It then assembled the plant in shop facilities matching the proposed field site layout to ensure proper matching of components. The plant was then disassembled and shipped from Propak's fabrication yard in Alberta to Houston via 38 truckloads hauling 60 pieces with a combined weight of about 700 metric tons.
Propak then shipped the equipment by oceangoing vessel to Brazil. After arriving at Manaus, the equipment was transferred to river barges for further shipment on the Solimoes and Urucu rivers to the plant site.
The plant is designed with many safety shutdown systems incorporating advanced monitoring equipment. If any monitored process alarms are not rectified within a few minutes, the plant will automatically shut down without flaring of gas.
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