Next* Magazine, Issue 4 - Chevron

(continued from page 15)back pressure and significant costs; the northern route, which was ultimately selected, savedinstallation costs and improved operability because of the shorter pipeline length.The Gorgon natural gas development on BarrowIsland will occupy 741 acres (300 ha) of unclearedland, some of which will be just south of the WesternAustralia oil terminal tanks, above.Expanding the boundaries of technologyWhile the LNG facilities on Barrow Island will appear typical, the scale and complexity at thislocation will be unprecedented.Con Kalimeris, a senior LNG process engineer with Chevron Energy Technology Co. (ETC)who works on Gorgon in Perth, Western Australia, explained, “One complication will be waterin the well-stream fluids that are directed to shore. Water introduces the possibility of hydrateformation, which may lead to operating problems. We will inject monoethylene glycol (MEG) intothe well-stream fluids to prevent hydrates from forming,” said Kalimeris.“While this won’t be the first MEG system associated with an LNG plant, the size of thesystem and importance of preventing feed disruptions to the onshore plant require extensivedesign efforts and proper management during operation.”Additionally, to significantly reduce environmental impact to the island, many of the componentswill be prefabricated and assembled offsite into transportable parts. Other plants havebeen redesigned to enable modularization in expansion phases, but Gorgon is one of the onlyLNG projects in the world for which modularized construction was designed from the outset.(continued on page 19)World’s largest commercial-scale CO 2-injection projectGorgon will position Australia as a world leaderin commercial-scale carbon dioxide–injectiontechnology.CO 2Gas ProductPHOTO: ROBERT GARVEY1Natural gas is fed from thereservoir to the plant.CO 2is separated from the2 natural gas.3CO 2is compressed and injectedmore than 1.6 miles (2.5 km)underground into the DupuyFormation beneath Barrow Island.16 | Next*