ABB to overhaul power generation facilities for fields offshore UAE

April 3, 2014
Zakum Development Co. (ZADCO) has awarded ABB a $175- million engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to upgrade power generation capacity at the Zirku oil and gas processing facilities offshore UAE.

Offshore staff

ZURICH, Switzerland – Zakum Development Co. (ZADCO) has awarded ABB a $175- million engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to upgrade power generation capacity at the Zirku oil and gas processing facilities offshore UAE.

Scope includes installation of additional power generation equipment to improve energy efficiency, operational flexibility, and reliability. ZADCO plans to increase oil production atUpper Zakum, said to be the world’s fourth largest oil field, from 550,000 to 750,000 b/d.

Zirku Island, 135 km (84 mi) northwest of Abu Dhabi, is the main industrial base for processing, storage, and export of oil from the Upper Zakum, Umm Al-Dalkh, and Satah fields. Processed crude is exported via cargo ships.

ABB is responsible for EPC, installation, pre-commissioning, commissioning, and testing of two gas-turbine driven generators, step-up transformers, new high-voltage switchgear, the power management system, and associated facilities.

It will deliver a new substation to house gas-insulated switchgear, and will provide waste heat recovery units to use exhaust gas from the new gas turbines for process heating and subsequently reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The project is in the design stage, with completion and handover to operations scheduled for June 2016.

04/03/2014