A Baker Hughes centrifugal compressor for LNG applications.
Baker Hughes received a major turbomachinery order from Qatar Petroleum to supply multiple main refrigerant compressors (MRCs) for Qatar Petroleum’s North Field East (NFE) project, executed by Qatargas. The total award is part of four LNG “mega trains,” representing 33 million tons per annum (MTPA) of additional capacity, which will increase Qatar’s total liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity from 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA. This order is among the largest LNG deals secured by Baker Hughes in the past five years, for both MTPA and equipment awarded. Qatargas already operates six existing LNG “mega trains” driven by Frame 9E gas turbine refrigerant compressors provided by Baker Hughes.
NFE project will feature the latest advancements in compression technology, including enhancing machine performance and reducing 60,000 tons of CO2 per train each year without any reduction in LNG production. This represents a ~5 percent decrease versus previous technologies and is the equivalent of removing more than 11,000 automobiles from the road every year. In addition, the new compression trains will be designed and produced by leveraging the latest manufacturing technologies and processes, minimizing raw material and emission intensive processes involved – thus reducing CO2 emissions during manufacturing production up to 10 percent.
Each MRC train will consist of three Frame 9E DLN Ultra Low NOx gas turbines and six centrifugal compressors across four LNG “mega trains” for a total scope of supply of 12 gas turbines to drive 24 centrifugal compressors. Packaging, manufacturing and testing of the gas turbine/compressor trains, a unique Baker Hughes offering, will take place at Baker Hughes’ facilities in Florence and Massa, Italy.
The North Field is the world’s single largest non-associated natural gas field. The NFE project, owned by Qatar Petroleum and operated by Qatargas, is the first phase of the North Field LNG Expansion Project, announced in 2017, and will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA, which accounts for an LNG production capacity increase of approximately 43 percent. First gas from the Expansion Project is expected to be produced by the end of 2025. The second phase of the North Field LNG Expansion Project, called the North Field South project (NFS), will further increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 110 MTPA to 126 MTPA.
