Worley's Aberdeen office has been given £765,000 support from Scotland's national economic development agency Scottish Enterprise for full pre-production testing of its pseudo dry gas (PDG) liquid removal system.
According to Worley, the Enhanced Subsea Gas Tieback Project reduces operational CO2 emissions in gas fields by more than 90 percent, while increasing technical and commercial viability.
"The technology removes the need for topsides and costly compression by reducing back pressure in the pipeline and the shape of the resistance curve. This, in turn, reduces the associated high carbon emissions and allows for greater tie-back distances," the company said.
“As the energy industry strives towards sustainability, it’s important to support solutions that enable decarbonization,” said Andy McDonald, Head of Low Carbon Transition at Scottish Enterprise. “The pseudo dry gas technology developed by the Worley team in Aberdeen and supported by Scottish Enterprise will contribute to lower carbon emissions across industrial processes and highlights the innovation taking place across the energy industry in the northeast of Scotland.”
Worley said its pre-production testing will build upon the first prototype. This was created and tested in 2020. The scope includes the fabrication of a large-scale unit, a magnetic drive subsea pump, and a supporting subsea control system. These are being tested as a system under pressures of more than 130 bar over the expected operational envelope, with a variety of hydrocarbon fluids.
" Ahead of this project, we conducted several techno-economic concept field studies for various operators. These studies demonstrated the system’s improved recovery levels compared to competing technology, due to efficiency gains within a tie-back. The studies also showed that upstream CO2 emissions are reduced by the elimination of compression-based systems," Worley said.
“Driving lower carbon technologies to help our customers is aligned with our purpose of delivering a more sustainable world,” said Andrew Berryman, Group President of Technology Solutions. “It’s significant that PDG has been identified by industry and government bodies as an enabler for emissions reduction and look forward to expanding its use in industry.”
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