Conference alert: SOGAT 2019 (May 1-2, Abu Dhabi)

SOGAT 2019 : Sour Oil and Gas Advanced Technology is coming up fast. It features speakers on topics like …

• The Future Of Technology Deployment In Sour Gas Projects, presented by Erik Nijveld, Deployment Matters, The Netherlands
• A Reduced Consumption Of Natural Gas And Aromatics Destruction In Sulfur Recovery Units Through Process Modifications, presented by Mohammad Al Hamadi, Salisu Ibrahim, Abhijeet Raj, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE
• How Sru May Lower So2 Emissions: An Overview Of Possible Techniques For Reducing Sulphur Dioxides Pollution, presented by Alessandro Buonomini & Armando Costantini, Kinetics Technology, Italy

Find the full program at
www.sogat.org/sogat-conference.html

Abu Dhabi makes it easy to travel there for a conference. On the SOGAT Web page is a link to Travel & Visas with the following information …

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Visa Information
No entry visa is required for citizens from KSA , Oman , Kuwait and Bahrain .
Citizens of the following 33 countries will be issued with a free-of-charge VISIT VISA on entry to the UAE: Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, United States.
Citizens of other countries should apply to their nearest UAE embassy.
Should you experience problems with visa arrangements, please contact the Organisers.
source: http://sogat.org/uae-visa.html
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Current/Previous sponsors include:

• Saudi Aramco
• Schlumberger
• Shell
• BASF
• UOP
• Jacobs
• Axens
• Dow
• ExxonMonbil
• TechnipFMC
• Fluor
• Total

source:
www.sogat.org/sogat-conference.html 
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TIP: Google® SOGAT proceedings and browse the results to get a sense of the quality of the presentations, based on previous SOGAT events. Here is example from the 2015 conference …

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Typical Process Challenges and Configurations for Sour Gas Mega Projects
Authors
Amott Nick (Fluor Ltd, Farnborough, UK)  |  Mogose Stephen (Fluor Ltd, Farnborough, UK)
Date 2015
Abstract
The last decade has seen the initiation, start-up and ongoing development for major oil and gas production projects requiring processing of extremely sour gas. Projects in the UAE and CIS states (particularly Central Asia) require processing of well fluids containing up to 10 mole % CO2 and 23 mole % H2S, with the potential for future projects to see the H2S level increase further. These projects are being designed to treat and process flows of up to 1,000 MMscfd alongside production of oil and/or condensate, as well as NGL/LPG recovery. The world scale processing of sour gas leads to the largest ever sulphur plants installed, with total plant capacities up to 10,000 TPD of elemental sulphur. Kuwait with the Jurassic gas projects is embarking on major sour gas processing and is ideally placed to benefit from the experience and strategies developed in these mega projects.
This paper summarizes a selection of the key sour gas mega project metrics and outlines some of the areas where the very high H2S and organic sulphur content of the well fluid, and the high ambient temperatures, either impacted the design of the process units or required additional design features. The technical discussion in this paper uses information gained from Fluor's experiences on several sour mega projects and covers:
Inlet gas conditioning to ensure there is no hydrocarbon condensation during the gas treating step
Removal of H2S, CO2, COS, and mercaptans from the gas phase
Condensate/oil treating options for organic sulphur removal
The design of the world's largest Sulphur Recovery and Tail Gas Treating trains
source: https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/SPE-175361-MS
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The Welding Institute Webinar - Computational Fluid Dynamics

The Welding Institute – TWI (https://www.theweldinginstitute.com/) has announced a webinar and live Q&A on Computational Fluid Dynamics, 02 April 2019 | 15:00 BST (GMT+1).

TWI’s description appears below.

TIP: If you wonder whether you want to spend valuable time attending this webinar, consider looking up the presenters on Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com)  

For example, the Google® Scholar search string "tyler london" yields, among other results …

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Flaw Tolerance of Pipelines Containing Circumferential Flaws Subjected to Axial Straining and Internal Pressure - Tests and Analyses
AuthorsHenryk Pisarski (TWI Ltd.)  |  Simon Smith (TWI Ltd.)  |  Tyler London (TWI Ltd.) Document IDISOPE-14-24-3-199
Publisher International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
Source International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, Volume24, Issue03
Publication Date September 2014
A number of codified assessment procedures can be applied to assess the significance of circumferential flaws in pipes, but these are generally stress-based. Efforts have been made to extend these so that they are applicable when the pipe is subject to axial plastic straining with and without internal pressure. In this paper, the results are presented for two full–scale tests that were axially loaded beyond yield. The tests were conducted on the parent pipe to API 5L PSL 2 Grade X65, 273.3 mm OD_1804 mm WT, which contained circumferential surface notches. In the first test, the pipe was axially strained until failure, and in the second test, the pipe was first internally pressurised and then axially strained until a failure condition was reached. In both tests, failure was ductile. The full–scale tests were accompanied by small-scale tests, which included SENT tests to derive fracture toughness resistance curves. For the materials investigated, the SENT specimens with EDM notches produced resistance curves almost identical to those with fatigue precracks. The behaviour of the pipes in terms of CTOD versus applied strain was compared with finite element analyses and failure analysis diagram (FAD) methods described in BS 7910. It is shown that a modification of the material-specific FAD enables it to be extended up to 3% strain.
source: https://www.onepetro.org/journal-paper/ISOPE-14-24-3-199
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Investigations into the Fatigue Strength of CRA Lined Pipe
Authors
Carol Johnston (Twi Ltd)  |  Channa Nageswaran (Twi Ltd)  |  Tyler London (Twi Ltd) DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4043/27141-MS
Document IDOTC-27141-MS
Publisher Offshore Technology Conference
Source Offshore Technology Conference, 2-5 May, Houston, Texas, USA
Publication Date2016
Pipes that experience sour service need to resist that corrosive environment. One method for achieving corrosion resistance is by lining the inside of the pipe with a corrosion resistant alloy (CRA), such as stainless steel or a nickel based alloy. This has the advantage of being much cheaper than either making the pipe from the CRA or metallurgically bonding CRA to the pipe (ie clad pipe). Lined pipe is gaining popularity, and has so far been used successfully in applications where applied strain levels are low, however more data is needed on its fatigue strength and its behavior when subjected to high levels of applied strain. A Joint Industry Project (JIP), funded by Petrobras, BG Group, Saipem, Tenaris, Technip, Cladtek and HMC, was run by TWI Ltd and INTECSEA to investigate and generate data on CRA lined pipe.
The JIP included full scale resonance fatigue testing, allowing the failure location of lined pipes to be investigated, development of an ultrasonic inspection procedure for lined pipe, small scale mechanical tests to generate materials data and calculation of stress intensity factors specific to the lined pipe geometry. This paper presents a summary of the work carried out.
The significance of the paper is that it describes a body of work carried out in the field of CRA lined pipe, helping operators and those at the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage to choose lined pipe, with the resulting cost savings.
source: https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/OTC-27141-MS
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Here is the text of the TWI communication …

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The Welding Institute is the leading international membership body for welding and joining professionals.
Becki Parratt - TWI Ltd < TWI@cmp.dotmailer.co.uk  >
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is increasingly being used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, nuclear, oil & gas and medical device sectors to solve engineering, design, and structural integrity challenges.
To support our Industrial Members in these areas, TWI provides CFD services for consultancy and R&D activities.
Over the years, CFD capabilities have improved to the point where complex industrial processes, such as additive manufacturing (AM), cold/thermal spray, and welding/joining can be accurately reproduced providing improved insights into their physics. Phenomena such as Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) can be predicted to assure integrity, while thermal-hydraulic performance of AM heat exchangers can be evaluated for further efficiency optimisation.
Presented by Tyler London and Alessio Basso from TWI's Numerical Modelling and Optimisation section this webinar will provide an overview of CFD activities at TWI.
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SINOPEC and IMO

Hydrocarbon Processing, 3/4/2019, announced the following …

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Sinopec's Hainan refinery delivers first low-sulfur bunker fuel cargo
Sinopec Corp’s subsidiary refinery in the southern island province of Hainan delivered its first shipment of low-sulfur bunker fuel that meets the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) emission rules, state media reported.
A vessel carrying 2,200 tons of the fuel left the Hainan refinery in late February heading to Ningbo on the east coast. The fuel will be put to pilot use at a maritime institution in Shanghai, China Securities Journal reported
The Hainan plant is the second refinery under Sinopec to produce the low-sulfur marine fuel that meets IMO standards. In January, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Corp shipped 6,000 tons of the fuel
IMO will ban ships from using fuel oil with sulfur content above 0.5 percent, compared with 3.5 percent now, unless they are equipped with exhaust “scrubbers” to clean up sulfur emissions, starting 2020
Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Rashmi Aich
source: https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2019/02/sinopecs-hainan-refinery-delivers-first-low-sulfur-bunker-fuel-cargo

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WHY THIS MATTERS
“The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will enforce a new 0.5% global sulphur cap on fuel content from 1 January 2020, lowering from the present 3.5% limit. The global fuel sulphur cap is part of the IMO’s response to heightening environmental concerns, contributed in part by harmful emissions from ships.”
Source: source: http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/images/PDFs/SOMWME-whitepaper_Sulphur-p2.pdf

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TIP: Google® imo bunker fuel regulations 2020

A sample search result …

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Seatrade Maritime News
What You Need to Know: The 2020 IMO Fuel Sulphur Regulation
[ EXCERPT ]
What It Means for the Refiners
It is without doubt that the 0.5% sulphur rule will have huge implications for the global refining sector in terms of refinery configuration and operations. Simple refineries that produce a substantial share of their crude run into HFO may face margins pressure, while complex refineries may potentially boost margins with a larger production of low-sulphur products.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) mentioned that by 2020 the price of fuel oil is expected to drop in tandem with demand. This will in turn put pressure on (fuel oil) cracks and simple refineries with high fuel oil yields. On the other hand, it could become more attractive to modern, complex refineries who have the secondary units capable of upgrading fuel oil into higher value lighter products.
The IEA stated: “Global refiners will be put under enormous strain by the shifting product slate. If refiners ran at similar utilisation rates to today, they would be unlikely to be able to produce the required volumes of gas oil. If they increased throughputs to produce the required gas oil volumes, margins would be adversely affected by the law of diminishing returns. In order to increase gas oil output, less valuable products at the top and bottom of the barrel would be produced in tandem, which would likely see cracks for these products weaken and weigh margins down.”
The world’s three leading oil majors – BP, ExxonMobil and Shell – have not mentioned anything on a mass production of 0.5% blends, neither have they announced commitments to invest in reconfiguring their crude runs on a global scale to produce 0.5% fuels. “At present, we have not heard of new refinery investments announced as a result of this regulation. It is too early to have that, as IMO’s decision in July will influence many of these uncertainties,” said Serena Huang, research analyst-downstream, Asia Pacific, Wood Mackenzie.
In general, oil majors and refiners are looking to support the shift in bunker fuel demand arising from the new sulphur regulation in various ways. Firstly, refiners can increase ULSFO production by extracting low sulphur fuel oil streams that are currently blended into LSFO or HSFO to be made available to the market as ULSFO. ExxonMobil, for instance, has launched a relatively new product, Heavy Distillate Marine ECA 50 (HDME 50), that can be handled onboard like HFO and has only 0.1% sulphur content.
Secondly, refiners in general have an issue of managing their surplus residue. “In some instances, exploring residue destruction investments may make sense, but this option comes with higher risk on returns of investment, as gas oil demand is predicated on shippers’ uptake of alternative options such as scrubber installation and LNG bunkering,” said Huang.
Thirdly, refiners can raise LNG bunker supplies in major bunkering hubs. In Singapore, Shell and ExxonMobil are working with Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to supply LNG as fuel. In Rotterdam, Shell this year launched a LNG bunker tanker to supply LNG from Rotterdam’s Gate Terminal.
source: http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/images/PDFs/SOMWME-whitepaper_Sulphur-p2.pdf
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