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Nation gets new gas plant

Kauther — When Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) discovered two promising gas fields at Kauther and nearby at Fakhr located close to Zahiyah village in the wilayat of Adam, about 250km from here, in 2001, little did the villagers realise the bonanza coming their way in the form of sustainable development, as one PDO official put it.

Over the last few years, the company has been working closely with the villagers to help them get over any inconvenience that may have been caused on account of the project.

The sustainable social investment projects costing over RO800,000 that the PDO has undertaken in the whole Wilayat Adam include a school and a health centre at Zahiyah village.

Yesterday the PDO and the people of the wilayat in particular, celebrated the official opening of the Kauther Gas Plant (KGP) at a special ceremony held under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said, adviser to His Majesty the Sultan. Members of the Royal family, ministers and undersecretaries, senior government officials, PDO’s senior management and local dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Production began at the KGP here almost 11 months ago.

Work on the RO170 million project started over five years ago.

The Directorate of Gas embarked on a fast-track development of these fields once they were discovered. The team assembled for the purpose was Omani-led and almost exclusively made up of Omani sub-surface specialists and surface engineers. Together, they created a state-of-the-art gas processing plant in record time. They were supported by the Gas Board, which made its final investment decision in mid-2005. Within weeks, an engineering, procurement and construction contract was awarded and two years later, the Kauther Gas Plant began to be commissioned — two months ahead of schedule.

The Kauther project involved the execution of four parallel contracts; the Kauther Gas Plant, the gas and condensate pipeline network, electrical overhead lines and the field gathering system. The main contractor was Petrofac and the construction subcontractor was Galfar.

The beauty of the plant is that it would not require great many people to operate it. Once it becomes fully functional it will require only four people to man, said a Galfar official, adding that initially it may require the service of up to 12 people which would gradually be brought down. It can even be operated from Muscat.

Significant amount

The plant produces gas for the local industry as well as a significant amount of hydrocarbon liquids known as condensates. As Sultanate’s oil gets heavier, these condensates play a key role in maintaining the quality of the Oman crude oil export blend.

The Kauther Gas plant is a ‘single train station’ with a processing capacity of 20 million m3 per day of wet gas. The gas is collected via a gathering system involving lengthy bulk lines, three remote manifolds and over 40km of flow-lines hooking up over 14 production wells. (There are nine more wells in the area that are yet to see production). The processed gas is exported to the Government Gas System via a 36-inch, 85km pipeline which in turn is delivered to customers in Muscat and Sohar area. Condensate is exported via 18 inch 103km pipeline to Saih Rawl Central Processing Plant for further stabilisation and export to the PDO main oil line.

“This is a critical project undertaken by PDO’s Gas Directorate of great strategic importance for Oman’s economy,” said PDO’s Managing Director John Malcolm. “It was built in record time and came on-stream two months ahead of schedule.”

“Thirty years after the start of gas production, close to half of PDO’s hydrocarbon production is in the form of gas and condensate,” PDO Gas Director Abla Al Riyami said.

“Today’s celebration marks a major new milestone in PDO’s 30-year gas history.”