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BARTEC: Skin Effect Heating Systems for Kharyaga Field
16.04.2012 + + + BARTEC delivered skin effect heating systems into the Kharyaga field. The tailor made solution provides engineering, calculation, design, supply, installation, commission, and supervision. The target was to assure frost protection and temperature maintaining at the long transfer pipe lines of the oil field in the oil-rich Nenets tundra.
The Kharyaga field in Western Siberia epitomizes the difficulties of Arctic and extreme-cold regions: isolation, extreme weather conditions, and a fragile ecosystem. Yet some years of uninterrupted production have demonstrated the validity of the solutions conceived by TOTAL who invested together with StatOil and the Nenets Oil Company into the Kharyaga oil field near Barents Sea. The Russian government approved this joint venture in 1999. In 2009 BARTEC started to work on Kharyaga phase III development project. The Kharyaga oil field has overall oil reserves estimated to 160 million tons. The field is located in the oil-rich Nenets tundra.
Despite the harsh conditions on the Kharyaga field, located some 60 km north of the Arctic Circle – remote location, winter temperatures down to -46°C and very strong winds – production there has continued uninterrupted since the field came on stream years ago, an achievement owed to a number of specific measures: By drilling with deviated wells from a limited number of pads away from the central processing station the impact of surface installations is minimized. To prevent plugging the waxy oil is maintained at +40°C. All facilities have high-performance insulation and the BARTEC skin effect heating systems are implemented. The first oil line to North Pad was planned and installed for a length of 10,4km deviated to the central processing facility. Another line with about 10km followed very fast for an additional pad in the East. The empty caves in the earth are filled with water at +60°C. The workspaces are enclosed and also heated both to protect workers and to reduce the impact of cold on processes. Confined spaces are ventilated to manage explosion risk. During phase III development, waste heat recovery units will be installed on the new gas turbines as an energy efficiency measure.
Kharyaga is located within the permafrost zone in a sensitive environment comprising tundra, swamps, shallow lakes and rivers, with numerous species of flora and fauna. The tundra is an extremely sensitive environment where regeneration takes time. These conditions explain why the field’s development must comply with several environmental principles such as the optimization of water management; strict limitation of greenhouse gas emissions; prevention of soil contamination and well selective waste collection and disposal. All Kharyaga contractors are required to respect waste management rules; drilling activities are carefully monitored and a “No Spill” policy is applied on the drilling rigs of new pads.
BARTEC delivered its complete skin effect heating systems into the Kharyaga field. The tailor made solution provides engineering, calculation, design, qualified components, installation, commission, and supervision. The target was to assure frost protection and temperature maintaining at the long transfer pipe lines. For this application, the skin effect heating system could show its advantages: It is the most cost effective solution at long or unlimited distance lengths with least number of feeding points. The rugged heating circuit is encapsulated in a heat tube element under the insulation and cladding. There is a constant power output for safe temperatures to protect the medium and installation and the system is certified for use in explosive atmosphere.
The skin effect heating system is an electrical heating circuit using the alternating current phenomenon with a remarkable effect on the inner surface of a ferromagnetic tube. The heating element is a plastic insulated heating cable inside a ferromagnetic steel tube. The heat tube (enclosure) by this use produces the majority of heating power output. At the far end the heating cable is connected to the heat tube end to return the current and close the electrical heating circuit (serial circuit). The current density and flow back is only at the inner surface of the heat tube. This has a thickness of about 3mm. For electrical safety the heat tube (envelope) is connected to ground every 600m. All parts (the envelope) are protected against direct contact by connection to protective earth measure. Even if there is used maximum rated voltage up to 5000 Volts the current flow is always and only at the inner side of the carbon steel heat tubes.
The electrical heating circuit is tailor made designed to any needs by variation of the heat tube size, electrical heating cable size, supplied voltage and insulation material. The high voltage transformer and the distribution panel are customized to the project requirements to meet the operation voltage and load requirements. The heating cable maximum length in production is 600m. Therefore along the carrier pipeline there are auxiliary devices. These pull & splice boxes are only used at this stage of construction and to splice the heating cables ends. The system features allow a maximum heating circuit length of 10km with only one feeding point.
Source:
BARTEC GmbH
Heinrich Fluch
Product Specialist Heating Technology
Max-Eyth-Straße 16
D-97980 Bad Mergentheim
Phone: +49 7931 597-0
Fax: +49 7931 597-183
E-Mail: heinrich.fluch@bartec.de
www.bartec.de
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