US-based oil field services company Baker Hughes has secured a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) turbomachinery supply order from Qatar Petroleum, a state owned petroleum company, for the North Field East (NFE) project.
The North Field, which is claimed to be the world’s biggest single non-associated natural gas field, lies offshore north-east Qatar peninsula.
The NFE is the initial phase of the North Field LNG Expansion project that was announced in 2017, and the project will increase the LNG production capacity in the country to 110 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) from 77Mtpa.
Under the contract, the company will be responsible for the supply of multiple main refrigerant compressors (MRCs) for the project, which is being operated by Qatargas.
The contract is said to be the part of four LNG “mega trains” which represents an additional 33Mtpa of capacity.
The North Field East project comprises latest compression technology
Baker Hughes said that each MRC train features three Frame 9E DLN Ultra Low NOx gas turbines and six centrifugal compressors across four LNG “mega trains” that will supply 12 gas turbines to drive 24 centrifugal compressors.
The company will pack, manufacture and test the gas turbine/compressor trains at its facilities in Florence and Massa, Italy.
The NFE project comprises latest compression technology which can reduce 60,000 tonnes of CO2 per train a year without any reduction in LNG production.
The expansion project is expected to produce first gas by the end of 2025.
The phase-2 of the North Field LNG Expansion Project is the North Field South project (NFS) that is expected to increase the country’s LNG production capacity to 126 MTPA from 110 MTPA.
Recently, Baker Hughes has agreed to divest its surface pressure control flow (SPC Flow) business unit to Pelican Energy Partners, a private equity fund.
