30 January 2014

Costain has successfully developed and delivered a breakthrough Front End Engineering Design (FEED) project for Anglo-French oil and gas company Perenco’s Freon replacement project, at its Dimlington gas terminal on Humberside.

Perenco is the world’s largest privately owned oil and gas company and currently produces around 375,000 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day). In November 2012 it bought BP’s Southern North Sea gas assets. These included the Dimlington terminal near Easington where gas is treated prior to export to the National Transmission System (NTS). The terminal currently uses Freon-based refrigeration to achieve the required gas dew point. However environmental legislation that bans the use of ozone depleting substances such as Freon comes into force on 1 January 2015, making modifications to the terminal necessary.

An innovative team from Costain Oil & Gas secured the initial study works in late 2012 and, in collaboration with Perenco, developed a novel, Value Engineered solution that utilised Joule-Thomson technology. This approach achieved capital cost requirements 60 per cent lower than those of the solution proposed by the incumbent engineering contractor.

“This development work, combined with Costain’s reputation, resulted in our being awarded the FEED phase of the project which was successfully completed on time and on budget in collaboration with Perenco,” said Stuart Campbell, Project Director. “This project is Perenco’s largest capital investment in its UK assets to date, and Costain is now delivering the Implementation phase of this substantial investment project in collaboration with Perenco. The project will provide extended operational life, improved flexibility and enhanced opportunities to process additional offshore gas reserves.”

Client feedback on the performance of the Costain team led was extremely positive with the team’s creativity and collaborative approach highlighted for praise.  Perenco was also impressed by Costain’s supply chain and procurement and commercial management processes. These are now being used for the critical long lead capital equipment needed to meet the tight legislative deadline.

Added Stuart: “This project has enabled Costain to develop a strong relationship with a significant new customer that is one of the major gas asset owners in the UK. We are now discussing further development options and feasibility studies for additional offshore opportunities within the North Sea.”

 

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