rasgas . doha, qatar – exploration engineers discovered ever natural gas off the northeast...
TRANSCRIPT
“By working with Invensys, RasGas is setting the pace for the LNG industry globally, supplying more efficient and more environmentally friendly energy for export to the world.”
RasGas Pumps Up Production
Goals• Implementcost-savingmeasurestoextend
businessefficiencies• Expandproductionwhilemaximizingexisting
technologies
Challenges• Communicationfromon-shorecontrolroomto
off-shorewellis130kmaway• Multipleoperatingplatformsandhardware
versions
Solutions and Products• FoxboroDistributedControlSystem-I/ASeries®• TriconexSafetyInstrumentedSystems
Results• World’slargestLNGsupplierwithexpectedtotal
productionof77milliontonsperyear• World’slongestsafetysystempeer-to-peer
networkallowstheonshoreLNGsystemtoshut-downtheremoteoffshorewellheadsfromadistanceof130km
• Providedlowestrisklevelandwiththehighestlifecyclevalue
INDUSTRY:UPSTREAMOIL&GAS
RasGaswww.rasgas.com
Doha, Qatar–ExplorationengineersdiscoverednaturalgasofftheNortheastcoastofQatarin1971.Atthetime,themagnitudeofthediscoverycouldnothavebeenimagined.Sincethen,theNorthField(asitisnowknown)hasbeenconfirmedasthelargest,non-associatednaturalgasfieldintheworld.Withmorethan900trillionstandardcubicfeetofreserves,NorthFieldrepresents10percentoftheworld’snaturalgasreserves.
Drillingforgasisonlypartofthestory.ThoughQatar’snaturalgasislocatedinthisgiant,offshorefield,itstillneedstobesuperchilledasliquefiednaturalgas(LNG)forexport.Thissuperchillingoperationtakesplaceonshore130kmawayinagasprocessingplantcalleda“train”.RasGas,oneoftheworld’spremierintegratedLNGenterprises,hasseventrains,includingtwooftheworld’slargest.
TocapitalizeonthegasdiscoveryinNorthField,RasGasneededtodevelopnew,world-classfacilitiesfortheextraction,storage,processingandexportofLNG.Long-termagreementstosupplycustomersaroundtheglobe,includingKorea,India,Italy,Spain,Taiwan,BelgiumandtheUnitedStateshavepositionedRasGastobecomethelargestsupplierofLNGworldwide.
RasGasneededacompanytoprovidetimelydesigninformationintheengineeringphaseandaconsistentdesignthroughoutprojectdevelopment,despitethesheersizeoftheproject.Inaddition,allworkwasbeinghandledfromacombinationofdifferentengineeringlocations.
Theclearchoicewastheproducts,servicesandsolutionsprovidedbyInvensysOperationsManagement.Invensysoffersthemostholisticandcost-effectivewaytooptimizeoperationperformanceandoverallprofitability.Invensyshelpsimprovetheperformanceofkeyresources(people,equipment,energyandmaterials)inrealtime—withdramatic,measurableresults—usingacollaborativeandopenapproach.
OneofthemainreasonsInvensyswasselectedwastheirstrongprojectexecutioncapabilitywithdeepknowledgeofLNGapplicationsandtheexistinginstallationatRasGas.Operatinginan
everchangingenvironment,Invensys’abilitytohandlelatedesigninformationfrompackagevendorshelpedminimizeimpacttotheprojectschedule.
RigorousFactoryAcceptanceTesting(FAT)helpedtointegrateFoxboroI/ADistributedControlSystem,TriconexCriticalandSafetySystemsandotherapplicationsystems–alltestedwithinanintegratedenvironment.Withitswealthofexperience,Invensyswasabletoidentifycriticaltie-insearlyintheproject,whichhelpedtomitigatetherisksassociatedwithworkinginaliveplant.
Duetothelargescaleoftheprojectandextendedtestingperiod,theInvensysteamhadbeverydetailedintheFAT,takingintoconsiderationmanydiverseconcerns,includingshipmentconstraints.Invensys’world-classprocessautomationbroughttechnologicallyadvancedattributestoensureaseamlessimplementationinthislargescaleLNGproject.
Bigger and Better
RasGas’hugeinvestmentintoLNGplacesQatarontheworld-mapasaleadingglobalnaturalgasproducer.In1999,thefirstyearofproduction,RasGasproduced6.6milliontonsperannum(MTA)withitsfirst2trains.Asmoretrainscameonline,productionincreasedtoalevelwhere
industryexpertsestimatethatsoonQatarwillsupply30%oftheworld’sLNG.WithTrains6and7online,eachproducing7.8MTA,thesetwoprojectsrepresentabigsteptowardsQatarbecomingtheworld’slargestsupplierofLNGwithexpectedtotalproductionof77MTA.
The Invensys Solution
Theexistingcontrolsystemhadmultipleoperatingplatformsandhardwareversions.Invensyshadtostrikeadelicatebalancebetweenexistingandnewtechnology.Systemlimitsondatatrafficintheexistingsystemcoupledwiththenumberofcontrolstationsalsoimpactedtheadditionofnewstationsandapplications.
Toachievethesegoals,Invensysdeliveredthebest-in-classtechnologiesincontrolandsafetysystems,providingexpertiseinserialdatacommunications(HART,Modbus,ProfiBus,OPCandHighSpeedEthernet),insinglesystemintegration,providingmissioncriticalinformationandcontrolfortheoperationoftheLNGPlant.
Becausetheoffshorewellheadsrequirereal-timecommunicationwiththeonshoreoperations,Invensysdeliveredtheworld’slongestsafetysystempeer-to-peernetwork,whichallowstheonshoreLNGsystemtoshut-downtheremoteoffshorewellheadsfromadistanceof130km.
Invensys’uniquesolutionallowsforinteroperabilityonasolidintegratedplatform,byutilizingFoxboroI/ASeriesConfigurationComponent(IACC)EngineeringSuite,imbeddingFieldDeviceTool(FDT)technologyandFieldDeviceManagement(FDM)intooneconsistentsingleengineeringenvironment.AllFieldBusstandardsinteroperatewithinthesystemutilizingonecoherentprojectdatabaseforthesystemandfielddevices.
TheFoxboroI/ASeriesistheworld’sfirstOpenControlSystem(OCS),whichallowsuserstocontinuouslydeploymoreadvancedcontrolstrategies,applicationandengineeringpackages.OCSallowsfortheabilitytomigratefromoldertechnologytothenewesttechnologyandprovidesaguaranteeofsystemsandhardwarebeingcontinuouslycurrent.
The Energy to Succeed
Invensysprovidedarobustandsustainablesolutionallowingforanalysis,measurementsandimprovementsinLNGplantperformance.AdvanceAlarmPackage,LoopPerformanceandInstrumentAssetManagementwereprovidedforTrain6&7.ThesolutionsuitewasalsoenhancedwithcontrolsystemsforPre-treatment,ProductionandThroughput,RefrigerantCompositionandLoad,MainHeatExchanger,LiquefiedPetroleumGas(LPG)recoveryandFractionationSystemQuality.
InvensysbroughtuniqueattributestotheRasGasoperation,whichensuredsuccessatthelowestrisklevelandwiththehighestlifecyclevalue.Invensysshowcasedextensiveandlong-termexperienceinQatar,andastrongtrackrecordindesignandimplementation.TheexpansionandretrofitofRasGas’LNGplantprocessautomationsystemsincorporatedbothlegacyandnewsystemsintooneintegratedsystem.
Asunanticipatedsituationsarose,Invensysprovedtobeveryflexibleandadaptableinhandlinglatechangesindesigndatawithoutimpactingprojectdeliverydates.ControlSystemswereengineered,installedandpre-commissionedtoachieverecord-breakingcompletiondates.
Thesefactorsresultedinthedeliveryofthelowestriskcontrolsystemandadvancedapplicationsystem,designedandimplementedbyengineerswhoweretechnicalexpertsandunderstoodthebusinesscontextofRasGas’market.
WhiletheInvensysteamworkedonthelivesystem,theyconsideredtheneedfortie-inpackageengineeringtofollowstrictqualitycontrolprocedures,makingsurethesystempassedthroughastringentreviewprocessandgainedapprovalfromRasGas.Invensysdidevenmorebyformulatingarisksandmitigationplan.Thiswasexecutedseamlesslywhilefacedwithscheduleconstraintsinshiploadingandplannedshutdownactivities.
With40%ofworldwideLNGproductioncontrolledbyInvensysandtheirbest-in-classLNGexecutionteam,RasGashaschosenaviablepartnerandsystemintegratorthathasensuredcosteffectivenessatthelowestrisk.Technologyisakeyenablerinachievingsuchascaleofproduction.ThesizeandcostefficienciesofeachtrainequippedwithInvensystechnologywilleventuallycontributetolowercostsofproducingLNG.
Withsuchexperience,InvensysismorethanqualifiedtoserviceRasGasfortheentire25-yearlifecycle.ByworkingwithInvensys,RasGasissettingthepacefortheLNGindustryglobally,supplyingmoreefficientandmoreenvironmentallyfriendlyenergyforexporttotheworld.
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Rev.06/10