The Miskar gas field, situated off the coast of Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabes, supplies around 85% of Tunisia's natural gas. This BG International-operated field produces sour gas which is transported via a 120 km pipeline to the Hannibal gas treatment plant near Sfax. There, the gas is treated prior to delivery to STEG, the Tunisian state electricity supplier.
Production from the Miskar gas field commenced in 1995, and production volumes have been increased as demand from STEG has increased to the current level of 5.2 MMcm/d.
Throughout the development of the Miskar asset, BG Technology worked closely with BG International, providing specialist engineering support to ensure production is maximized at minimal unit operating expenditure. Over the last two years, the level of support provided by BG Technology has increased as BG International's drive to improve operating performance (OPEX) has resulted in demanding performance targets.
BG Technology has been instrumental in supporting BG International in developing an effective corrosion management strategy for the Miskar asset, ensuring unit OPEX is minimized while maintaining system integrity. Through the application of a robust corrosion inhibitor selection program and subsequent optimization trials, BG Technology has been able to help reduce OPEX costs by more than £ 250,000 annually.
BG Technology conducted a comprehensive review of the Miskar asset, with the aim of identifying improvements required to allow the achievement of further production increases and an availability of at least 98%. The review utilized BG Technology's extensive capabilities in availability and process modeling, process materials and mechanical engineering.
The potential for increased production was identified while enabling a significant improvement in plant availability. BG Technology continues to work closely with BG International to further develop asset management at Miskar and ensure optimized asset performance in the future.
