UEG’s Naimat 5A3 Project in Pakistan Successfully Commissioned

On the 18th of September 2017, one week ahead of schedule, UEG witnessed the successful first gas at the Naimat 5A3 processing plant, a major project undertaken by UEG. Following the Naimat Phase V project, it marks another engineering marvel worked by UEP that involves enormous amount of work load with tight schedule. Since UEG took over the Pakistan project in 2011, the surface facility system has been undergoing extension with the productivity improves significantly. Currently there are 7 surface processing plants, including 4 gas processing plants with a capacity of 519MMscfd, in which 197 MMscfd of high carbon and 322 MMscfd of low carbon.

To meet the aggressive production target in 2017, technical teams in Beijing and Karachi have been working together since October 2016, on the revamp scheme for the surface processing unit. In accordance with the Group’s exploration and development plan and to achieve the annual target of 4.1 million tons of production, an train amine units was added to the existing Naimat 5A processing site, then the revamped schedule was finalized through multiple rounds of technical discussions with the contractor. A LOA (Letter of Award) to CPECC-SW was signed off on Dec. 30th, 2016.

The scope of work includes a train of amine unit, air compression station, a dehydration system, fire-fighting system and other supporting production facilities as well as 120 tie-in revamp points related to the original 5A & 5B unit. In spite of the large amount of workload, the entire EPC contract was completed in just 8 months and 25 days.

In order to get the project completed and commissioned ASAP, UEG’s technical and commercial teams worked closely with the contractor to ensure the overall planning and efficient management of the project was on schedule, including engineering design, procurement, transportation and on-site construction management, by defining key project milestones, working on measures and making sure people are held accountable for various job responsibilities. All of this despite the fact that several major traditional holidays such as Ramadan, Lesser Bairam and the Corban Festival happened and the temperature went up as high as 50°C as the project moved forward. Numerous hurdles were overcome and problems tackled through efficient management, leading to a successful first gas 7 days ahead of schedule!

“With 8 contractors working within the limits of operating plants, completing ~21,000 dia-inch of piping and ~450 Tons of equipment erection was by no means an easy project to deliver. However, it was impressive to see how well UEP teams worked together to achieve this task and commission the plant while continuing to uphold the highest HSE standards, 7 days ahead of its target date.” said Mausuf, VP of Technology at UEP.

The one-time successful commissioning of Naimat 5A3 project substantially improves UEP’s capacity to process gas with high carbon from 60MMscfd to 100 MMscfd, and greatly release the production capacity of high carbon dioxide well, which provides a powerful support for UEG to achieve - annual production target.