OIL & GAS
Just plug & play IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2020, BOGE COMPRESSORS NETHERLANDS WAS AWARDED THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EASILY TRANSPORTABLE PLUG & PLAY NITROGEN INSTALLATION FOR ONE OF THE PETROGAS OFFSHORE PLATFORMS. This installation ensures that the Petrogas platform Helder is always supplied with sufficient nitrogen and that a potential explosion hazard is prevented. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOGE.
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onald Engberts, Managing Director of Boge compressors Netherlands, elaborates, “Petrogas E&P is an internationally operating organisation for the exploration and production of oil & gas. The organisation is driven by a technical and operational policy and strives to manage its activities in a safe and environmentallyfriendly manner. The Dutch branch of Petrogas has eight oil and gas platforms and we were asked to design a plug & play nitrogen installation for one of those platforms.”
Replace natural gas
Oil is produced on the platform where the installation is placed. The produced oil is treated in separators before the oil is pumped ashore. Water is separated from the oil in the separators. Mr Engberts continues, “In the past,” natural gas was used as blanketing gas in the water treatment plant. Blanketing gas is used to prevent oxygen from air entering the water treatment plant and possibly causing an explosion. When the pressure in the water treatment installation increases, methane is emitted to the atmosphere. This emission of methane to the atmosphere is no longer permitted by Dutch government and it has therefore been decided to replace natural gas with nitrogen. The required nitrogen on the Helder platform is now produced by our installation.”
Complete unit
The desired nitrogen for Petrogas is made by a special Boge N48-M membrane
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generator. This is a complete generator to which a regular oil-lubricated compressor can be directly connected, without conditioning. An S 150-3 screw compressor was chosen for this project. All necessary filters are incorporated in the generator unit. The generator is also equipped with its own control unit and various sensors to ensure that the customer is always supplied with high quality nitrogen. Mr Engberts explains, “A major advantage of this installation is that a large amount of nitrogen can be continuously produced on site (350Nm3/h at 95% purity) with a low dew point.”
Easy transport by lifting frame
In addition to the desired nitrogen installation, an important topic for this project was the ability to easily transport the installation to the offshore platform. A special hoisting frame was designed for this task. “The components for the generator were supplied by Boge Germany and assembled at our facility. The hoisting frame was, however, constructed by one of our local partners.” With this frame, the transport by land and sea, as well as the installation on board, could be carried out smoothly and safely, meeting the customer’s request for a smart plug & play solution.
Push the button
“Petrogas was looking for a compressor that could be easily installed. For them, it should be just a matter of discharging and installing, connecting wires and tubes and pushing the button. And that was exactly
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Ronald Engberts, Managing Director of Boge compressors Netherlands.
o ffs h o re -i n d u s tr y. e u
01-10-20 18:41
