Offshore West Africa

Customer's Needs

This compressor network is one of the most complex systems in the world. This world class oil company in West Africa was frustrated with the lack of performance and capability of the existing legacy proprietary single loop control system. After many service visits from the supplier and no improvement in results, they made the decision to consult with ECT. We collaborated with them on problem identification and solution development.

• Reliable surge protection for all the compressor sections without introducing excessive process disturbance by the surge valve movements
  

• Decrease the number of compressors’ ESDs coming from exceeding pressure trip points

• Re-design of the pressure limiting loops in the control system
  

• Eliminate disbalance in LP-IP A/B operations resulting in trips and the need for manual operations
  

• Eliminate frequent, almost daily trips to the SGC unit with associated process disturbances and flaring
  

• Minimize export gas losses during HP-B periodic test runs
  

• Stabilize pressure in the separators

  
  

ECT Solutions

ECT's advanced control algorithms and technology provided the following benefits:

• Eliminated disbalance in LP-IP A/B operations and resulting trips and the need for Manual operations.

  
  

• SGC has no more compressor shutdowns caused by low or high pressure. Overall 95% improvement post upgrade.

  
  

• HP-A gas compressor is running with good performance with gas injection flow rate increasing by 4%.

  
  

• Separator pressure is now very stable