Maintenance Agreement for Scarab/Saffron PSS

Fantoft has entered into a Master Service Agreement with Burullus Gas Company for the Scarab/Saffron Production System Simulator (PSS). The PSS has been in operation since July 2003.

Quote from Ian Howard, Technical General Manager in Burullus Gas Company, Egypt:

"The online Production System Simulator has added a significant value to the operation of the Scarab/Saffron field during the first year of field operation. This model-based system fills in information not available through the normal instrumentation and automation system, helping us to operate within the safety margins and operational envelope."

Burullus Gas Company is formed by and acting as agent for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), British Gas and Edison International.

The Production System Simulator (PSS) of the West Delta Development project, developed by Fantoft, was successfully installed and commissioned in the Central Control Room at Idku Egypt during July 2003. After initial tuning and Site Acceptance by the project, the PSS has been on-line with the plant process.

The PSS is developed based on the Fantoft dynamic simulator D-SPICE and the multi-phase pipeline simulator OLGA 2000 from Scandpower. The PSS covers the process from reservoir inflow to the wells, through the subsea pipeline transport system and on-shore processing to liquid storage. Further, the glycol and methanol injection system is included within the scope of the PSS.

Three PSS applications are installed:

The real time system functioning as a window in the pipelines for user monitoring of the conditions The look-ahead application for fast predictions of the process state into the near future (hours/days/weeks) Off-line tool for detailed planning and training.

The production of the plant has been ramped up from the initial low production level to the maximum of the 8 producing wells. The PSS has proven to be a very useful tool during this early phase of the plant operation.

Typically, the main benefits experienced have been:

Focus on the operability/flow assurance of the transport system from all levels of the organisation, from Field General Manager to Operator
Benefit from rapid increase in the understanding of the complexity and the phenomena in the subsea pipeline system
Benefit from on-line presentation of key condition data for the pipeline system, which cannot be measured nor found elsewhere
Benefit from guiding the operators in liquid surge management, i.e. control of offshore/onshore gas flow taking liquid hold-up into account
Benefit from being able to plan operations through simulations before implementation on the plant, and hereby tailor/improve the actions
Tool for easy correlation and presentation of data from the whole plant, e.g. offshore gas production vs. onshore gas export utilizing the flexibility of the D-SPICE user interface.