Warren R. True
Chief Technology Editor-LNG/Gas Processing
HOUSTON, Nov. 2 -- Saudi Aramco’s Karan gas project swung into full speed last month as all four contract packages began construction, according to a company announcement.
Following the awarding of program contracts in March, the offshore platforms and subsea pipeline package began fabrication in September. The units involved 30,000 tonnes of steel for 38 structures, said an announcement from the company in mid October.
The three onshore packages—Karan gas facilities, pipeline utilities and cogeneration, and the Karan sulfur recovery and Manifa gas facilities—have all begun initial construction at Khursaniyah (OGJ, June 22, 2009, p. 50).
Project teams consist of members from Aramco and contractors J. Ray McDermott, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Petrofac, and GS Engineering.
Karan is the first nonassociated offshore gas field Aramco has developed, the announcement reiterated. The onshore facility, about 160 km north of Dhahran, will be able to process 1.8 bscfd of Karan Khuff gas.
The gas will move in a 110-km subsea pipeline from field to onshore processing at the Khursaniyah gas plant. The offshore facilities at Karan consist of four production platforms connected to a main tie-in platform that will feed sour gas to the subsea pipeline.
The Khursaniyah plant will process gas through three trains, each with an inlet capacity of 600 MMscfd. The trains will include gas sweetening, acid-gas enrichment, gas dehydration, and supplementary propane refrigeration. The facilities also will include a cogeneration plant with boiler, a sulfur-recovery unit with storage tank, substations, and a transmission pipeline linked to the country’s master gas system.
Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].