In one of the many LPG projects throughout the Middle East, Bahrain National Gas Co. (Banagas) last month awarded Foster Wheeler Ltd. a frontend engineering and design contract to revamp Banagas' 280-MMcfd gas plant at the Bahrain oil field, south of Awali. Foster Wheeler will also handle upgrading at the company's refrigerated product storage and loading areas at Sitra, 15 km south of Manama, the capital of Bahrain.
The expanded Banagas plant will process 308 MMscfd of associated sour gas with Arab gas and refinery offgas rich in LPG liquids. The present plant processes natural gas in two gas and condensate reception plants with associated gas treatment and LPG and naphtha export facilities.
The Banagas gas plant at the Bahrain oil field will be expanded to 308 MMcfd and the company's storage at Sitra, near Manama, upgraded. (Photograph from Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd., UK)
Foster Wheeler will design the revamp of process units at both of the central gas plants, the refrigerated product storage area, and the export facilities at Sitra, including the transfer pipelines, said the announcement from the engineering company. "This may involve the use of new technology and the potential upgrade of the lean oil system at the central gas plants," said the company, which did not disclose the contract's value.
LPG products and naphtha are exported under existing marketing agreements, it said. The naphtha moves via the Bahrain Petroleum Co. refinery and the residue gas, mainly methane and ethane, moves to Aluminium Bahrain, the Bapco refinery, and the electricity directorate's Riffa power station.
Banagas is owned by the government of Bahrain (75%) with the remaining 25% owned equally by the Arab Petroleum Investment Corp. and Caltex Bahrain.
