Khurais Wips

Khurais: a massive undertaking

In response to constantly increasing demand, world leader Saudi Aramco has decided to reactivate several of its fields to increase the company’s production capacity to 12 million barrels per day (MMbpd) by 2009.
The Khurais field, currently dormant, is by far the largest of the fields under development. Reactivating this field to produce 1.2 MMbpd of Arabian light crude will involve injecting a significant volume (2.1 MMbpd) of seawater drawn from the Arabian Gulf.
Saipem has taken on the lion's share in developing the Khurais project. In total, Saudi Aramco has entrusted five infrastructure projects to Snamprogetti, Saudi Arabian Saipem and Saipem:

1. A seawater intake plant (QSTP)
2. Two Pipelines Packages
3. Seawater Pumping stations (WIPS) in JV with SNC-Lavalin (Canada)
4. Khurais WIPS and Utilities (KUC)
5. Khurais Crude Oil Facilities (KCC)

O.B.E.: an ingenious concept


The Khurais Water Injection Pumping Stations (WIPS) project involves revamping, modernizing and increasing the capacity of four existing pumping stations on another major oil field, Ghawar. The Khurais project alone will increase Saudi Arabia's production capacity by 1.6 MMbpd. To understand the scale of the project, compare this effort with Libya's production of 1.77 MMbpd or Nigeria's production of 2 MMbpd (January 2008).
The contract signed in April 2006 with the SNC Lavalin/Saipem consortium involved starting the project on a cost-plus basis and converting this to a turnkey fixed-price contract, when the level of risk is deemed acceptable to the client and the consortium. This conversion took place to the satisfaction of all one year later. Engineering had achieved progress of 65%, 95% of purchases had been committed to and all the main subcontracting agreements had been assigned.
The conversion was carried out according to clearly defined criteria and procedures agreed upon at contact signing, and with complete transparency based on open-book estimates. This enabled the teams to work together very cohesively in managing risks and opportunities. Customer representatives brought their in-depth knowledge of Aramco's rules and standards, while consortium teams designed and specified the project’s outlines, separately from the economical and contractual aspects that usually hamper the progress of such projects.
This is one of the main benefits of the conversion: adherence to the overall project schedule.

Bitterly cold winter and blisteringly hot summer

A key feature of the WIPS project is that it has been conducted under the most extreme environments on the planet, with polar conditions during the Canadian winter and scorching temperatures during the Saudi summer. The engineering studies were carried out in Calgary, Alberta at the premises of partner company SNC Lavalin. Personnel were mobilized before the contract was signed in view of the fact that the feasibility studies (FEED) had been entrusted to SNC Lavalin.
Immediately after the conversion, the project's centre of gravity switched continents: to Ain Dar, Saudi Arabia, some 120 km south of Saipem's historic base in Dammam.

A wealth of challenges

Another key challenge for the project involves its geographic disparity. This undertaking actually comprises four mini-projects, each 150 km apart from the others: Ain Dar in the north, ‘Uthmaniyah and Hawiyah in the middle and Haradh in the south. Effective management is necessary to handle such decentralization and the ensuing logistics issues.
The 10 gas turbines (frame V) installed by the customer were given a facelift. Their control systems were replaced with high-tech components in a "surgical" operation that involved shutting down each turbine in turn and then replacing all instrumentation, cables and control cabinets. Work was carried out with no loss of production time whatsoever for the customer, which earned us the operators’ respect.
The life of the project is punctuated with production shutdowns: the internal components of three mega pumps were replaced in Hawiyah; three mega pumps and their support systems will be completely replaced in Ain Dar; and the compressed-air production unit at Hawiyah has been moved to free up space for a new turbine – a very delicate operation, since it involves the very heart of the plant. A few kilometres of corroded carbon-steel pipes will be replaced. All the functions carried out via the control buildings and energy-production substations at Ain Dar and ‘Uthmaniyah will be transferred to newly constructed buildings. All this makes the Khurais WIPS project riskier and more complicated than implementing a completely grass root project.

In addition to modernizing and rebuilding Saudi Aramco's working tools, the project is also helping to substantially increase production thanks to the installation of 10 new mega pumps powered by gas turbines (frame V).

Three thousand people, of 35 different nationalities, are currently working non-stop on the various sites to deliver the installations to Saudi Aramco within the contractually agreed times. For construction and pre-commissioning requirements, the consortium is working in partnership with various Saudi entrepreneurs, including the Mohamed Al-Moujil Group for Mechanics, Piping and E&I, and Eastern Trading Enterprise and the International Centre of Commerce for Civil Construction.

The home stretch

The project is reaching its final phase: at the end of April 2008, progress stood at 90%, engineering work was complete, most equipment and materials had been received at the sites and construction progress had reached 75%. Mechanical completion will take place between June and August 2008. Vigilance is essential over the coming period to meet the challenge of a tight schedule, with assembly of some 5,500 tons of piping at four sites and completion of the installation of the gas turbines and associated pumps. Switchovers of the electrical substations on two of the four sites, will involve all personnel at both Aindar and ‘Uthmaniyah. The transfer of the electrical substations is planned to take place without any production shutdowns, making detailed hourly monitoring of the schedule imperative.

Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies more than three-quarters of the Arabian Peninsula, i.e., 2,253,000 sq.km. It has 23 million inhabitants, 35% of them of foreign origin, with a density of 11 inhabitants per sq.km.

Borders
North: Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan
South: Yemen and Oman
East: United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Arabian Gulf
West: The Red Sea

Geographic regions
The kingdom is divided into five geographic regions:
o Najd (central region).
o Hedjaz (western region).
o Northern region.
o Eastern region.
o Asir and the southern region.

Saudi Arabian desert
Eastern region: the world's richest source of oil, this area stretches between the Ad-Dahna Desert and Arabian Gulf to the south of the Emirate of Kuwait. This province occupies the majority of the western coast of the Arabian Gulf. There are three large oases, and certain significant agricultural projects have been carried out there.
Ancient cities in the region include Hafuf, Qatif and Jubail. The towns of Dammam, Dhahran, Al Khobar and Ras Tanura are newer cities that have risen since the discovery of oil.

Climate
The climate is distinguished by drought and cold in winter, with temperatures falling as low as 0° C, and blistering heat in summer, with temperatures of up to 50° C in some inland areas.
The coastal regions are not as hot but are very humid. While humidity is close to 100% on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coasts, the desert dominates inland areas.
The average rainfall level is about 5.9 mm, but this rises to 91 mm in the Asir region to the south.