Bukhari Amine Natural Gas Plant Completed and Operated Successfully

Another natural gas processing plant as part of the UEG Pakistan project came into operations recently. Located in Bukhari, the new plant is expected to process an additional 30 million-cubic feet natural gas containing high carbon dioxide on a daily basis.

Recently UEP discovered a number of oil/gas fields with enormous reserves at three regions in a row including the north of Limu, and Kumbh and Piaro Basal. Due to the high carbon dioxide content in these fields, natural gas needs to be de-carbonized before being pumped through pipelines and being sold. However, the Company’s plant in Bukhari is only able to treat 90 million c.f.d. natural gas containing low carbon dioxide and given that it was built in 1990s, it certainly cannot meet the additional processing need. So, the company decided to expand the capacity by building a new processing plant in Bukhari.

The Bukhari natural gas plant was completed in a record time. All equipment items were installed in just over five months and the final work even finished 3 days ahead of schedule. This has set the fastest record in project construction and installation within UEP and also set a new standard for the industry.

The main units are supplied by the US-based Sartan Energy Inc. These were shipped from Houston and re-installed on the site. Other equipment items were purchased from China and Pakistan.

One of the major features of the plant is the skid-mounted design, which allows quick mounting/dismounting and equipment items can be moved around as needed. This helps to reduce costs in the long run, and will also save a considerable amount of time for any possible future relocation of the plant.

The Bukhari natural gas processing plant also has an independent energy and power system as well as supporting systems including a reverse osmosis water purifier and fire protection equipment, which allows the plant to operate uninterrupted under power blackout or other exceptional conditions.