Aramco lets contract for new unit at Shaybah gas plant

Saudi Aramco has let a contract to Wison Engineering Services Co. Ltd. to provide engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) services for an upgrading project at Aramco’s existing NGL recovery plant in Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula, southeast of Saudi Arabia near to the border with the United Arab Emirates (OGJ, Feb. 3, 2014, p. 80).

As part of the lump-sum contract, Wison Engineering will build a new dewpoint control unit upstream of the gas plant’s existing acid gas removal units (AGRUs), the service provider said.

The new unit—which will be Saudi Arabia’s first modular project—will recover heavy hydrocarbons from raw gas and remove acid gas from heavy hydrocarbons, enabling the Aramco-operated plant to control foaming in its AGRUs, according to Wison Engineering.

More specifically, however, installation of the dewpoint control unit aims to return the Shaybah NGL plant to its 2.4-billion bcfd nameplate recovery capacity, which has been reduced because of foaming in the complex’s AGRUs due to increased acidity levels in feed gas, according to social media posts from employees of Aramco and various service companies involved in the project.

Wison Engineering disclosed neither a value of the recently awarded EPC contract nor a timeframe for its work on the project.

Aramco itself has not disclosed additional details regarding the new dewpoint control unit, but the operator has let a contract to Dal Arabia Contracting Est. to supply and install steam generators, or boilers, for major unidentified equipment at the Shaybah NGL plant through 2021, according to the service provider’s website. Whether the contract is related to the NGL plant upgrade has yet to be confirmed, however.

Shaybah field, operations

With estimated reserves of about 13.6 billion bbl of Arabian extra-light oil and 25 trillion cu ft of gas, Shaybah field production averages 1 million b/d, according to Aramco.

The proposed Shaybah NGL upgrade follows a series of unmanned aerial attacks on Aug. 17, 2019 that resulted in fires and subsequent damage to the plant’s processing and cogeneration infrastructure (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2019).

No injuries or fatalities were reported following the incident, and Aramco completed repairs and restored full production to one of the plant’s damaged NGL trains within 2 weeks of the attack, the operator said in its latest annual report to investors.