Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 33 2019

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Petrofac bags Absheron contract
AZERBAIJAN
The project is now two years behind schedule.
UK-BASED Petrofac has bagged a contract to provide engineering and technical services at the Absheron gas eld o Azerbaijan.
e company secured the contract, which has a 12-month duration with an option to extend, through a joint venture with Azerbaijan’s state oil producer SOCAR.
Absheron was discovered by SOCAR and France’s Total in 2011 some 100km south of Baku. e eld is now anticipated to start pro- ducing in 2021, two years behind schedule, fol- lowing the completion of a 6,800-metre appraisal well in May. e well was drilled by the Heydar Aliyev semi-submersible.
Absheron is one of the largest known gas elds in the Caspian, holding 350bn cubic metres of gas and 45mn tonnes of condensate, accord- ing to SOCAR. e project initially oundered because of a disagreement between the Azeri government and Total over whether its gas should be exported or sold locally. Rig shortages and weaker oil and gas prices were also factors
behind its delay.
At its first stage, Absheron is anticipated
to ow 4.3mn cubic metres of gas and 16,000 barrels of condensate per day. e gas will be sold domestically, while the condensate will be shipped to other markets via the Baku-Tbili- si-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
Under the field’s second stage, gas pro- duction is slated to reach 4-5 bcm per year, and it has been suggested that some of this volume could be shipped to Europe and Tur- key using the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) system.
Other contractors involved in the project besides Petrofac include Caspian Drilling Co. (CDC), a SOCAR subsidiary that supplied the Heydar Aliyev rig, Italy’s Saipem, which leads a consortium hired to engineer, procure and install subsea, umbilical, riser and owline units, and US-based KBR, which is involved in front- end engineering design (FEED) of Absheron’s top sides.™
Uzbekistan outlines three-stage plan for upgrading oil refinery
UZBEKISTAN
South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction signed a $600mn contract to upgrade the plant in March.
UZBEKISTAN is considering a three-stage programme for upgrading Bukhara oil re nery, UzDaily news agency reported on August 16.
The project appears to be undergoing its planning phase a er announcements that it o - cially launched this year with an estimated cost of $600mn. e oil re nery, constructed in 1997, will undergo a major upgrade for the rst time in 22 years. A er the modernisation project is nished, the Bukhara plant will produce eco- friendly petroleum products. Uzbekistan has launched multiple projects to increase produc- tion of fuels in order to meet its own demands for fuel. e re nery will have the capacity to annually process 2.5mn tonnes of oil and gas condensate and produce 1.2mn tonnes of Euro 5 standard petrol, 200,000 tonnes of aviation fuel kerosene, 750,000 tonnes of diesel fuel and 30,000 tonnes of fuel oil.
South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construc- tion (SK E&C) signed a $600mn contract in March to upgrade the Bukhara plant.
e proposed rst stage of the project envis- ages replacing “the catalyst for the installation of gas oil hydrotreatment with the latest generation catalyst” - this would allow the plant to generate 20% of the total volume of the diesel fuel that meets Euro 4.5 standards, while the remaining
80% would meet Euro 3 standards.
As part of the second stage, planned to take
place until 2022, the proposal considering mod- ernisation and reconstruction of “existing pro- duction lines with the installation of additional equipment aimed at improving product quality”. is would lead to a rise in high-octane petrol (AI-91, AI-93, AI-95) output, which would meet requirements of Euro 3 and Euro 5 standards. In addition, 100% of the diesel fuel will be produced under Euro 5 standards.
e third stage, planned to take place in 2024- 2025), would see the construction of new facili- ties to ensure deep fuel oil processing. e third stage would also increase “the depth of process- ingofrawmaterialsfrom79%to95%”,andraise “the yield of light oil products from 77% to 91%,’’ the report said. ™
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