WELLCOM Gas Jet Pump Reduces Gas Flaring

Customer

Britannia Operator Limited (BOL), UK Sector, North Sea

Product

A WELLCOM gas jet pump was specially designed and supplied by Caltec, to transport low pressure gas from the Alba development to the nearby Britannia field for use as fuel gas, energised by compressed gas from Britannia.

Problem

Up to 15MMscfd of low pressure gas was being flared on the Alba oil field. Environmental considerations required that this had to be curtailed.

Objectives

To utilise high pressure gas from the Britannia export compressor to boost the pressure of Alba LP gas, and to feed back the commingled products to Britannia as fuel gas.

Approach

Data was provided from BOL concerning the gas pressures and flow rates available, enabling a feasibility study to be performed. Caltec's engineers completed the study and confirmed that a customised WELLCOM jet pump would meet the application's needs.

Caltec completed the design work for the contract using its purpose built software, which optimises the design performance of the jet pump for given application conditions, and was awarded a contract to design and build the jet pump.

Outcome

The customised WELLCOM gas import eductor was installed, with the following benefits:

Up to 15MMscf/d of extra gas is available for sale from Britannia.
Alba has ceased to flare up to 15MMscf/d of gas, with a huge environmental benefit.
Payback for the capital cost of the equipment was approximately one month.

WELLCOM Gas Jet Pump Reduces Gas Flaring