GASCO
Encyclopedia
Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd (GASCO) is a natural gas
company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi
, UAE. It is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
, which owns 68% of its shares. Shell
owns 15%, Total S.A.
15%, and Partex
2%. The company is managed by Mohammed Sahoo Al Suwaidi.
, Bab
, Bu Hasa and Habshan
. The processed products are then transferred to GASCO's Ruwais Fractionation Plant, to other plants (condensate and sulfur
to TAKREER at Ruwais and raw ethane
to Borouge
), and natural gas to industrial customers through a network of pipelines with total length of over 2300 kilometres (1,429.2 mi).
.
from Thamama-C reservoir wells. The plant went through several expansion projects (debottlenecking in 1989, followed by OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), thereby increasing its gas-processing capacity rates to make it one of the largest gas processing plants in the world.
Habshan Plant currently has a total of eight gas processing trains and two gas injection trains with a feed gas capacity of 5 Gcuft/d. The plant produces network gas, NGL, condensate and sulfur.
Part of the gas from the Habshan Plant is delivered to consumers through a gas distribution network covering the entire emirate and extending to Dubai. The uninterrupted supply of network gas is critical for the generation of electricity and for water desalination operations for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is also essential for the supply of gas to many industries in Abu Dhabi, including the TAKREER (Abu Dhabi Refining Company) refineries, the Borouge petrochemical plant and for the FERTIL plant. The constant and reliable supply of gas is also crucial for Dubai
(Jebel Ali Power Station). Another major gas utilization is its re-injection into the oil
and condensate gas reservoirs for pressure maintenance purposes.
NGL (about 6,800 tons per day) is transferred to the GASCO Ruwais
plant where it is fractionated
into ethane
(C2), propane
(C3), butane
(C4) and pentane
plus (C5+) products, while condensate (about 142000 oilbbl/d) is piped to the TAKREER refineries. About 4,800 tons per day of liquid sulfur is also produced, as a by-product of the processing of acid l gas. Liquid sulfur is trucked to Ruwais TAKREER facilities, where it is granulated and exported.
The Bab Plant is located across the road from ADCO Crude Degassing Plant, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Habshan plant. This single-train NGL extraction plant was started up in 1981; it was de-bottlenecked to increase its capacity up to 150 Mcuft/d in 1989. Due to the immediate proximity of the two plants, Habshan and Bab were grouped into one single entity in 2001 for operating the entire Habshan-Bab Gas Complex under a single management.
Unlike other GASCO NGL Extraction Plants at Asab and Bu Hasa, Bab has sour gas treating facilities using Di-Glycol Amine (DGA) solvent and acid gas recovery system. Acid gas is piped to neighboring Habshan Gas Plant for converting in to liquid sulfur. The produced NGL is piped to GASCO Ruwais fractionation plant, while the residual gas is compressed and injected into the network after sweetening.
The Asab and Bab Integrated Control System (ABICS) project executed by Cegelec
in 2005 involved the installation of advanced computerized systems to replace the original pneumatic control systems currently in service at Asab and Bab.
After compression, the two parallel gas processing trains (total capacity of 540 MMSCFD) refrigerate the gas to a temperature as low as –87 °C to ensure a high propane recovery (above 99%).
The Bu Hasa NGL extraction plant has two trains with a total processing capacity of 540 MMSCFD. It receives associated gas from the neighbouring Bu Hasa oil field operated by ADCO. It extracts NGL from rich sour gas and sends lean gas to ADCO gas injection compressor and balance in to pipeline-network.
The original Habshan Gas Plant was built in 1983. After completion of several major development projects (OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), the Habshan plant now includes eight gas processing trains with the capacity to process 3.5 BSCFD of non-associated and associated gas.
Early 2005, the Bu Hasa Integrated Control System project (HICS) was completed by Cegelec
, through which the control room was converted from its existing pneumatic control system to modern, more efficient digital technology, without interruption of the production.
The NGL feed is fractionated into four products: ethane (C2), propane (C3), butane (C4) and Paraffinic Naphtha. Ethane is exported to the neighbouring petrochemical plant of Borouge for the production of ethylene. The other three marketable products are stored at Ruwais before transfer via the Gasco Ruwais jetty to gas carriers or via the refinery jetty to pentane tankers and shipped to markets worldwide.
In January 2004, Ruwais achieved the milestone of 3,000 ships with more than 90 million tonnes of marketable product loaded for export from since the Ruwais plant started up in 1981.
It receives the associated gas (capacity 306 Mcuft/d, Single Train) coming from the adjacent oil producing company. After being compressed, the feed gas is cooled down to -80 °C in order to ensure a high NGL recovery.
The Asab Gas Plant (AGP) started in 2001 to process condensate rich gas from Thammama F/G reservoirs. It encompasses two parallel processing trains, with a total capacity of 825 MMSCFD. Condensate is extracted from the feed-gas at a rate of about 80000 oilbbl/d; after stabilization, and then transferred to TAKREER Ruwais oil refinery at a distance of 215 km. Residual gas is re-injected into the reservoir for pressure maintenance purposes.
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
, UAE. It is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
ADNOC
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company or ADNOC is the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates . It is considered to be the world's fourth largest oil company with access to country's oil and gas reserves, .-Operations:...
, which owns 68% of its shares. Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
owns 15%, Total S.A.
Total S.A.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
15%, and Partex
Partex
Partex Oil and Gas Corporation is an oil company which is fully owned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, from Lisbon, Portugal.-History:...
2%. The company is managed by Mohammed Sahoo Al Suwaidi.
History
GASCO was incorporated in 1978. In April 2001, ATHEER (Abu Dhabi Gas Company) a fully owned ADNOC company was integrated with GASCO.Operations
The gas processing and natural gas liquid (NGL) extraction operations take place at four desert plants: AsabAsab
Asab is a settlement in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. It is situated on the B1 national road about halfway between Mariental and Keetmanshoop. east of Asab is the Mukurob rock pinnacle, a tourist attraction that collapsed in 1988....
, Bab
Bab
Bab can refer to:* Bab, Set, Seth, ancient Egyptian god* Bāb, a Semitic word meaning gateway* Báb , founder of Bábism and a central figure in the Bahá'í Faith...
, Bu Hasa and Habshan
Habshan
Habshan is an area in the southwestern part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.It is currently a major oil and gas field for both ADCO and GaSCO companies. It contains oil field and camps for oil workers. The major part of this region is marked as a red zone due to the presence...
. The processed products are then transferred to GASCO's Ruwais Fractionation Plant, to other plants (condensate and sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
to TAKREER at Ruwais and raw ethane
Ethane
Ethane is a chemical compound with chemical formula C2H6. It is the only two-carbon alkane that is an aliphatic hydrocarbon. At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas....
to Borouge
Borouge
Borouge, a manufacturer of polyoleofins, was founded in 1998, and is a joint venture of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austria's Borealis...
), and natural gas to industrial customers through a network of pipelines with total length of over 2300 kilometres (1,429.2 mi).
Gas plants
GASCO is engaged in the extraction of natural gas liquids from associated and natural gas. It operates associated gas plants at Asab, Bab, BuHasa, and RuwaisRuwais
Al Ruwais is a town located some 240 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi city. The Ruwais industrial and housing complex has been developed by ADNOC as a major contributor to the national economy and represents a series of multi-million-dollar investments by the company...
.
Habshan-Bab
The first gas processing plant at Habshan was built in 1983 at Bab oil and gas field, to process sour gasSour gas
Sour gas is natural gas or any other gas containing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide . Natural gas is usually considered sour if there are more than 5.7 milligrams of H2S per cubic meter of natural gas, which is equivalent to approximately 4 ppm by volume...
from Thamama-C reservoir wells. The plant went through several expansion projects (debottlenecking in 1989, followed by OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), thereby increasing its gas-processing capacity rates to make it one of the largest gas processing plants in the world.
Habshan Plant currently has a total of eight gas processing trains and two gas injection trains with a feed gas capacity of 5 Gcuft/d. The plant produces network gas, NGL, condensate and sulfur.
Part of the gas from the Habshan Plant is delivered to consumers through a gas distribution network covering the entire emirate and extending to Dubai. The uninterrupted supply of network gas is critical for the generation of electricity and for water desalination operations for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is also essential for the supply of gas to many industries in Abu Dhabi, including the TAKREER (Abu Dhabi Refining Company) refineries, the Borouge petrochemical plant and for the FERTIL plant. The constant and reliable supply of gas is also crucial for Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
(Jebel Ali Power Station). Another major gas utilization is its re-injection into the oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and condensate gas reservoirs for pressure maintenance purposes.
NGL (about 6,800 tons per day) is transferred to the GASCO Ruwais
Ruwais
Al Ruwais is a town located some 240 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi city. The Ruwais industrial and housing complex has been developed by ADNOC as a major contributor to the national economy and represents a series of multi-million-dollar investments by the company...
plant where it is fractionated
Cracking (chemistry)
In petroleum geology and chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or heavy hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of carbon-carbon bonds in the precursors. The rate of cracking and the end products...
into ethane
Ethane
Ethane is a chemical compound with chemical formula C2H6. It is the only two-carbon alkane that is an aliphatic hydrocarbon. At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas....
(C2), propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
(C3), butane
Butane
Butane is a gas with the formula C4H10 that is an alkane with four carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of two structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, butane refers only to the unbranched n-butane isomer; the other one being called "methylpropane" or...
(C4) and pentane
Pentane
Pentane is an organic compound with the formula C5H12 — that is, an alkane with five carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of three structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, pentane means exclusively the n-pentane isomer; the other two being called...
plus (C5+) products, while condensate (about 142000 oilbbl/d) is piped to the TAKREER refineries. About 4,800 tons per day of liquid sulfur is also produced, as a by-product of the processing of acid l gas. Liquid sulfur is trucked to Ruwais TAKREER facilities, where it is granulated and exported.
The Bab Plant is located across the road from ADCO Crude Degassing Plant, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Habshan plant. This single-train NGL extraction plant was started up in 1981; it was de-bottlenecked to increase its capacity up to 150 Mcuft/d in 1989. Due to the immediate proximity of the two plants, Habshan and Bab were grouped into one single entity in 2001 for operating the entire Habshan-Bab Gas Complex under a single management.
Unlike other GASCO NGL Extraction Plants at Asab and Bu Hasa, Bab has sour gas treating facilities using Di-Glycol Amine (DGA) solvent and acid gas recovery system. Acid gas is piped to neighboring Habshan Gas Plant for converting in to liquid sulfur. The produced NGL is piped to GASCO Ruwais fractionation plant, while the residual gas is compressed and injected into the network after sweetening.
The Asab and Bab Integrated Control System (ABICS) project executed by Cegelec
Cegelec
Cegelec is a European company providing technological services to companies and public authorities. It has a workforce of 25,000 and has a presence in 30 countries. It has been a subsidiary of Vinci since 2010....
in 2005 involved the installation of advanced computerized systems to replace the original pneumatic control systems currently in service at Asab and Bab.
Buhasa
Bu Hasa was the first GASCO NGL Extraction Plant to be commissioned in 1981. It processes associated gas from the neighboring Bu Hasa oil field in the central desert (50 Kilometers from Habshan – Bab Gas Complex and 175 KM from Abu Dhabi city).After compression, the two parallel gas processing trains (total capacity of 540 MMSCFD) refrigerate the gas to a temperature as low as –87 °C to ensure a high propane recovery (above 99%).
The Bu Hasa NGL extraction plant has two trains with a total processing capacity of 540 MMSCFD. It receives associated gas from the neighbouring Bu Hasa oil field operated by ADCO. It extracts NGL from rich sour gas and sends lean gas to ADCO gas injection compressor and balance in to pipeline-network.
The original Habshan Gas Plant was built in 1983. After completion of several major development projects (OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), the Habshan plant now includes eight gas processing trains with the capacity to process 3.5 BSCFD of non-associated and associated gas.
Early 2005, the Bu Hasa Integrated Control System project (HICS) was completed by Cegelec
Cegelec
Cegelec is a European company providing technological services to companies and public authorities. It has a workforce of 25,000 and has a presence in 30 countries. It has been a subsidiary of Vinci since 2010....
, through which the control room was converted from its existing pneumatic control system to modern, more efficient digital technology, without interruption of the production.
Ruwais
The Ruwais Fractionation Plant is an integral and major part of the Ruwais Industrial Complex and plays a very important part in the Abu Dhabi Onshore Hydrocarbon Chain. The Ruwais Plant receives its feedstock from GASCO’s NGL extraction plants, at Asab, Bu Hasa, Habshan and Bab, as well as from the neighbouring TAKREER (Abu Dhabi Refinery Company) refinery. The plant, which can process 23,370 tonnes per day ( 7.8 million tonnes per year) of NGL, has two parallel fractionation trains, storage facilities and a loading jetty to export propane, butane and Paraffinic Naphtha.The NGL feed is fractionated into four products: ethane (C2), propane (C3), butane (C4) and Paraffinic Naphtha. Ethane is exported to the neighbouring petrochemical plant of Borouge for the production of ethylene. The other three marketable products are stored at Ruwais before transfer via the Gasco Ruwais jetty to gas carriers or via the refinery jetty to pentane tankers and shipped to markets worldwide.
In January 2004, Ruwais achieved the milestone of 3,000 ships with more than 90 million tonnes of marketable product loaded for export from since the Ruwais plant started up in 1981.
Asab
The Asab NGL and AGP Plants are located next to one of the richest oil fields in the country, 190 kilometres (118.1 mi) south of the city of Abu Dhabi. The Asab NGL extraction plant has been in operation since its start-up in 1981.It receives the associated gas (capacity 306 Mcuft/d, Single Train) coming from the adjacent oil producing company. After being compressed, the feed gas is cooled down to -80 °C in order to ensure a high NGL recovery.
The Asab Gas Plant (AGP) started in 2001 to process condensate rich gas from Thammama F/G reservoirs. It encompasses two parallel processing trains, with a total capacity of 825 MMSCFD. Condensate is extracted from the feed-gas at a rate of about 80000 oilbbl/d; after stabilization, and then transferred to TAKREER Ruwais oil refinery at a distance of 215 km. Residual gas is re-injected into the reservoir for pressure maintenance purposes.