Evaluation Of Prime Movers For East-West Petrotine
Authors: Dabbagh A.T. 
Published: December 2007

PIPELINE DESIGN PIPELINE DESIGN Petroline, a subsidiary of The General Petroleum and Mineral Organization (Petromin) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is building a crude oil pipeline 747 miles (1201 km) long from the Ghaware Oil Fields near Abqaiq in the eastern provinces of The Kingdom to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The 48-in. (122-cm) pipeline has an initial design capacity of 1.85 pipeline has an initial design capacity of 1.85 million B/D, with growth potential to 2.35 million B/D via looping. The pipeline will reduce the shipping distance to Europe by over 2200 miles and will supply fuel stock for the planned Yanbu petrochemical complex. petrochemical complex. The pipeline must cross a remote desert region as well as the Hijaz Mountains. A total of 11 pump stations are included in the pipeline system. These stations are spaced to balance hydraulic conditions, which allows the use of identical pumps throughout the system. Each station has three gas turbine-driven mainline pumps with two operating and one standby during normal conditions. The drivers are I.S.O. rated at 27,700 hp.

The crude oil line will share right of way, communications systems, cathodic protection, and maintenance facilities with a parallel NCL line. The NGL line will provide an efficient source of economical fuel for the mainline gas turbines.

PIPELINE CAPACITY AND GROWTH PIPELINE CAPACITY AND GROWTH Throughput of the line will be increased stepwise over a period of time. The design rate, 1.85 million B/D, can be accomplished with the pumps operating at 15,000 hp each. The first step occurs when throughput is increased to 2.1 million B/D. Driver load will be increased to the design level of 15,000 hp at site conditions. The final phase of pipeline operation will be achieved by installation pipeline operation will be achieved by installation of parallel line sections (looping), maintaining pumping power at 15,000 hp at a throughput of 2.35 pumping power at 15,000 hp at a throughput of 2.35 MM B/D.

MAINLINE PRIME MOVER REQUIREMENTS

Performance of the mainline gas turbines is a critical factor affecting operation of the pipeline. Therefore, a series of stringent requirements was established to provide a basis for their selection. These requirements are defined as follows.

Experience

The turbines must have extensive operating history. The harsh environment and remoteness of the system preclude the consideration of prototype or uprated versions of existing models with their inevitable development problems.

On-Line Availability

The gas turbines must provide high availability and reliability to minimize loss of throughput. This requires that the gas turbine operating characteristics and maintenance methods be defined in detail for various modes of operation, and a support logistics place formulated accordingly. Location and place formulated accordingly. Location and capability of the turbine manufacturer's service facility is a key factor in the evaluation of this requirement.

Fuel Flexibility

Each prime mover must operate successfully on both the primary fuel, NGL at minimum pressure of 300 psi and 65 degrees F, and the pipeline's crude oil that psi and 65 degrees F, and the pipeline's crude oil that will be used for emergency backup. This capability must be provided with minimal fuel treatment. Flexibility must be proved by operating history or successful demonstration.

TURBINE SURVEY

The turbines under consideration for this application were thoroughly evaluated in order to predict the potential of each for satisfactory predict the potential of each for satisfactory operation at site conditions. Satisfactory operation in this case means providing the required power under all site conditions utile burning either NGL or crude.