Powering the oil and gas industry

O&G Next Generation speaks to Waseem Marzogi, head of the ABB’s Process Automation division for Saudi Arabia about ABB’s activities in the region.

Q.1 Which major oil and gas projects has ABB been recently involved in the region?

Marzogi: "We have a long history of working with the region's oil and gas sector. ABB has been involved in a number of projects recently, including a uniquely fast and precise ABB gasoline blending solution which is helping one oil refinery in the Gulf to save significant sums of money.

The ABB solution enables the customer to make uniquely fast and accurate predictions of 13 critical gasoline properties within three minutes, using only one analyzer and operating in a closed loop - one of only a few installations in the world with closed loop capability.
Conventional methods of analyzing blending components - which are still used at many refineries - take as long as 45 minutes and require one analyzer for each property analyzed.
The single multi-variable analyzer in the ABB solution feeds the predictions continually into the blend control system, which adjusts and optimizes the blend components according to the predictions made - thereby achieving blending precision and the target properties without octane giveaways or re-blends.

Continually supplied with fast and accurate data from the analyzer, the blend property control system uses global optimization algorithms to achieve other process improvements and cost reductions at the refinery.

One other turnkey project for us this year in the region has been our contract with Kuwait Oil Company to design and build -a new crude-oil transit line and associated ancillary systems.

The project includes the expansion of an existing manifold (a pipeline consolidation installation) at Point A, a location in the north of the country, and the installation of the new transit line. The 123 km, 30-inch-diameter transit line will run between oil fields in the north of the country and a storage facility in the south. It will be equipped with pipeline inspection gauges at 15 km intervals, a leak-detection system and metering stations.

ABB is responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction supervision, commissioning and start-up of the new system. ABB will also provide an automation system and distributed-control systems, as well as instrumentation, electrical equipment and an emergency-shutdown system.

These are only two examples of what we have been doing on a local level. There's no doubt to me that ABB can add significant value to every company present in the oil and gas sector.

Q.2 Are you seeing a stronger focus on process efficiency in the region's oil and gas market?

Marzogi: "There is indeed. The industry wants to be as efficient as possible and get the maximum amount of resources out of the ground, utilize them as best they can for the lowest cost whilst ensuring the lowest possible environmental impact. This is one of ABB's strengths and an area we can definitely help."

Q.3 How has the oil and gas industry changed over the last five years? What are they focusing on strategically?

Marzogi: "There's no doubt that the global economic climate has affected every single industry, including the oil and gas sector. What we've seen is a shift from maximizing production levels three years back to a focus on optimization. Both upstream and downstream, companies are looking to ensure that they improve efficiencies. Many of the conversations that we are having today with our customers in the oil and gas industry are related to process optimization.

We're also seeing much more interest in what we'd term green, or environmentally-friendly, solutions. One example is a solution which ABB developed that cleans oily wastewater - by far the largest waste product in oil and gas production - quickly, cost-effectively and energy-efficiently, ready for discharge with zero environmental impact.

Developed on behalf of a leading national oil and gas company, the solution is installed at three oil and gas fields in North Africa where it has achieved some remarkable results and exceeded the customer's targets in terms of the quality of water treated and released as effluent.

Compared to the existing technologies for treating produced water, the ABB solution has proved more effective not only in terms of process results but in critical areas like cost, energy efficiency, footprint, speed of installation and ease of operation.

Q.4. How long has ABB been in the oil and gas industry and what added value does your company bring to the oil and gas sector?

Marzogi: "ABB has a dedicated Oil, Gas and Petrochemical business unit with over 50 years of experience in serving the oil and gas industry. We have over 5,500 employees in 35 countries dedicated to serving the industry and have successfully completed thousands of projects worldwide delivering products, automation systems, electrification, EPC projects, and services to national and international energy companies. We work on both upstream, midstream and downstream sectors serving areas such as refining, chemicals and petrochemicals.

There are a number of areas ABB can add value to the industry. For one, when implementing large oil and gas plants that include captive power plants oil and gas customers in the region and across the globe are increasing looking for integrated instrumentation, control, and electrical solution to reduce overall cost, implementation time and increase operational excellence. In this scenario, ABB is well poised to address oil and gas customer needs with its integrated power and automation solutions.

Another area where ABB can add value is risk management, which is very important factor for oil and gas companies. Here ABB can help mitigate their risk by offering our capacity to execute large multi-scope projects with our professional project management, global presence and with strict compliance to international industry standards. In this way, we ensure timely high quality deliveries throughout all project phases, from concept to operation with a firm focus on health, safety, security and the environment.

Last but not least is the area of after-sales service, another very crucial requirement for the industry. In the Middle East and Africa region, ABB provides on-demand service, maintenance contract options, and performance-based services. We understand our customers' demands to have a high availability of the equipment. We also have on-demand training for our customers. Furthermore, ABB offers customers audit and benchmarking services in order to help them attain the highest standards in processes."

Q.5 What global expertise or projects have distinguished ABB's oil and gas solutions in 2010?

Marzogi: "We have a number of projects that have been unique but one that stands out is the work we've done with Shell recently. ABB experts are currently operating, monitoring and managing by remote the offshore oil and gas automation systems of two Shell production sites in the Norwegian Sea, including the world's largest deepwater gas wells and longest subsea gas pipeline.

Through a 24/7 service desk, ABB is able to respond rapidly to field alerts, optimize, upgrade and evolve the systems, and collaborate on projects with Shell and authorized third parties, regardless of where personnel are located. The solution provides Shell with high IT security, fast response times, a single point of contact for all automation issues, and access to around 60 ABB product groups and 400 engineers who are assigned to the project.

The solution solves two of the biggest challenges currently facing the oil and gas industry. Firstly, how to keep up with the rapid changes in automation and information technologies, both of which traditionally require the presence of specialized engineers on site. The solution also helps eliminate the need for the costly deployment of these specialists at remote offshore and onshore facilities without jeopardizing productivity and safety."