Control System World

State oil giant Saudi Aramco plans to build a new gas plant at al-Fadhili oilfield, which will have a processing capacity of 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of sour gas, three industry sources said. Aramco has stepped up its search for gas to boost production that will help meet rising domestic fuel demand. It completed in 2012 the Karan gas project, the kingdom's first gas field to be developed which was not associated with an oil field.

The new plant will process gas coming from two fields; Khursaniyah and Hasbah. Aramco already has oil and gas processing facilities in Khursaniyah, while Hasbah is one of the two non-associated offshore gas fields that will feed gas to the Wasit project which is currently under development.

The Fadhili plant, which is scheduled to be operational in 2018, will be able to deliver 520 million scfd of gas to the market, the sources said.  Aramco has already invited companies to bid for design and management contracts for the Fadhili project. The due date for bids are Aug. 4.

Saudi Aramco referred Reuters to the oil ministry which was not available for comment on the gas project.  The gas in Hasbah contains high levels of hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen and CO2. Gas with high levels of sulphur - also called sour gas - is tougher to process than other natural gas reserves.

Aramco said in its recently-issued 2012 Annual Review its exploration and appraisal efforts for unconventional gas continue and cited three areas; the Northwest of the kingdom, the Southern part of Ghawar, the world's largest onshore oilfield and in the Rub al-Khali, known as the Empty Quarter.

"A new onshore sour gas processing facility in the Fadhili and Khursaniyah area has the further advantage of opening up new opportunities to tap into the large undeveloped deep but sour gas reservoirs of Khursaniyah," said Sadad al-Husseini, a former top executive at Aramco and now president of Husseini Energy, an independent consulting firm.

Twelve new companies have joined the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork program, including new OEM Partner companies, Solution Partner companies, and Encompass third-party product referencing companies. The products and services provided by these leading organizations enhance Rockwell Automation solutions and provide global manufacturers access to a world-class network. This helps customers simplify their supply chain, innovate their project design, and collaborate in multiple facets to receive the best value for their automation investment.

Four new OEM Partner companies have demonstrated a commitment to offering high-quality, innovative machinery and equipment that uses Rockwell Automation solutions. By delivering flexible and efficient equipment, OEM Partner companies help manufacturers increase business agility, optimize productivity and achieve sustainability objectives.

In the Latin American region, six organizations have been recognized as Solution Partner companies. Reputable and established companies, Solution Partner companies offer demonstrated knowledge in design, implementation, project management and maintenance of industrial control systems.

Additionally, two organizations became Encompass third-party product referencing companies – one in the Americas region, and one in the Asia Pacific region. Encompass Partner companies provide functionality that complements, enhances and extends Rockwell Automation solutions in order to help manufacturers harness the knowledge and flexibility needed to respond to rapid change and shifting demand. These companies offer connectivity solutions and critical components that not only help enrich the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture system, but also simplify the product-selection process – making it easier for customers to find the technologies best-suited to address their unique application challenges.

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Ideal for use in machine manufacturing industries such as semi-conductor manufacture, Advantech’s Industrial Automation Group has launched an exciting new range of Web operator panels. These newly designed models, withflat panel IP66 certified aluminum edging, include the latest Intel Cortex-A8 processor which is not only faster but also consumes the minimum amount of power and also support for CANopen, Modbus and Ethernet protocols to ensure that they’ll connect to your existing network.

Unique in their class, the new WebOP 3000 series have dual Level 4 Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection and fully meet IEC-61000 requirements. This level of protection makes them ideal for work in semi-conductor factories where ESD is a major concern.

To protect the models from sudden spikes in the electricity supply, the WebOP-3000T series is equipped with power and terminal I/O port isolation protection so that in the event of power surges the panel’s components will not be affected. This level of protection not only prevents immediate damage to the devices but also increases the life of the products.

In the event of power failure to the WebOPs, they are protected against immediate data loss by the inclusion of 128KB FRAM (Ferroelectric RAM) which doesn’t require a battery to operate. Storage memory is 512MB SLC flash memory, which provides faster access times and 100,000 read-write cycles making it ideal for heavy use industrial applications that also require lower power consumption.

KBR has announced that it has been selected by Togliattiazot Corporation (ToAZ) to perform revamp studies for seven ammonia plants located in Togliatti, Russia. The ToAZ revamp project will be one of the largest upgrade of an ammonia complex with the seven plants located at the same site.

During the initial phase, KBR will evaluate plant operations to identify bottlenecks, define technical and commercial requirements, and examine process schemes prior to licensing KBR technology. KBR’s conventional and revamp technologies are known in the industry to significantly increase operational efficiencies, on-stream reliability and total ammonia production.

“KBR is proud to be selected by ToAZ for this revamp study,” said John Derbyshire, President, KBR Technology. “Helping our clients achieve greater production capacities with no lost shutdown time is one of our core competencies and will continue to be an area of significant growth worldwide.”

Iran is planning to build a gas refinery on the southern Persian Gulf island of Qeshm in the near future, an energy official announced on Sunday.

"The refinery, with a production capacity of 80 million cubic feet of gas per day, will be built in the center of the country's energy zone," Heydar Yarveisi, the head of Qeshm Operational Zone at the National Iranian Offshore Oil Company (NIOOC), also told Fars News Agency. He explained that the development of 16 new oil and gas fields and production of 12,000 megawatts of electricity have been planned for Qeshm Island.

"Due to its geographical situation and proximity to the southern Persian Gulf littoral states and the strategic Hormuz Strait, Qeshm can turn into a hub for storing and exporting oil, gas and petrochemical products," Yarveisi added.

In September, NIOOC Managing Director Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said Iran plans to build several gas power plants on Qeshm Island after developing Forouz B gas field in the Persian Gulf waters. Zirakchianzadeh said the project is aimed at generating 12,000 megawatts of electricity.

ICONICS, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and provider of automation software solutions for HMI/SCADA, Manufacturing Intelligence, and Building Automation,has announced about Hyper Historian V10.8. Hyper Historian is a high speed, reliable and robust industrial plant historian designed for mission-critical applications.

Manufacturers need equipment data so they can validate and verify that their assets are producing what they were contracted to produce and are as efficient as they were guaranteed to be. Hyper Historian helps users understand the present compared to the past by comparing like processes and assets and by providing the capability to collect, compress, archive, analyze, and visualize Big Data.

Hyper Historian is designed to log data at greater than 100,000 tags per second and works with multiple data sources across the enterprise including OPC UA Servers, OPC DA Servers, OPC XML DA Servers, BACnet, SNMP devices and many more. ICONICS Hyper Historian also provides full, Web-based configuration via its integrated engineering Workbench. Optional redundant configurations are supported using redundant Collectors and redundant Loggers. The secure Hyper Historian supports Store-and-Forward technology and includes the ability to source and merge data from any open database, as well as from other historians that might currently be installed.

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Tight blending specifications are required to make gasoline at the most reasonable cost. On-line analysis provides crucial information to prevent product giveaway and reprocessing. Susan Harris with PAC, and Randy Ridge with Marathon Petroleum, co-presented the “Comparative On-Line Atmospheric Distillation and Total Sulfur Analysis Methods in the Gasoline Blender” paper at this year’s ISA A&D 2013 symposium. This paper presents a technology discussion for total sulfur analysis and determining distillation boiling points in the gasoline blender, including:

• How lab and process data correlations are interpreted and best practices, including a discussion of ASTM methods

• How tight monitoring can help the process and improve profitability

• What issues occur when transitioning to process control

• How to optimize sampling and specific installations

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Daelim has announced recently that it won a USD 825 million (KRW 944.9 billion) ammonia production plant construction project ordered by Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden together with its local subsidiary, Daelim Saudi Arabia. This project involves building a large-scale petrochemical plant that can produce 3,300 tons of ammonia a day using natural gas as raw material.

Daelim plans to implement this project in lump sum turnkey mode wherein it is responsible for engineering, materials procurement, and construction. The project site is located in Ras Al Khair, about 80km away north from Saudi’s eastern city, Jubail. The construction period is 39 months, and the project is slated to be completed in September 2016.

This project is implemented as one of the projects to build the mining and petrochemical production complex in the Ras Al Khair region and Umm Wu’al region, Saudi Arabia’s northwestern border area. Widely known as a factor essential in chemical fertilizer production, ammonia has been recently hailed as a high value-added petrochemical product since it is diversely used for the manufacture of refrigerant and medical supplies as well as for metal surface treatment.

Ammonia production is a process requiring high-quality technology and strict safety level, and only a small number of companies worldwide have experience in building such plant. Having won this project, Daelim will be implementing 13 projects worth USD 8 billion in Saudi Arabia.

According to Daelim President Lee Chul-gyun, their project performing capability has been recognized once more by winning this project, ordered by one of Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden, a major client, following Aramco and Sabic. He expects this project to be an opportunity to solidify the company’s status in the petrochemical plant field through successful product diversification.