Career Episode For Mechanical Engineer At Petrodar Operating Company (PDOC)

Answer :

Introduction

Name of the project: Kosti Power Plant Metering Skid Project

Location: White Nile State, Sudan Republic

Year of Commencement: Early 2015

Year of Completion: End of 2015

Owner of the Project: Petrodar Operating Company (PDOC)

My designation: Embedded member of the Joint Project team commissioned by PDOC

My Role:I have joined the project as an embedded member of the joint project team and employed with the responsibility to supervise the incipient activities until the successful operational launch. 

Company Profile

The project is a joint product owned by the Sudanese Thermal Power Generating (STPG) and PetroDar Petroleum Operating Company (PDOC). The former company is relatively maiden and built simply by disintegrating the National Electricity Corporation into four companies, which are state-owned, and their venture is destined to serve electricity production, transmission and distribution. On the other hand, STPG is the statutory owner of the Electric Thermal Power Plants in Sudan and destined to operate all the tasks associated with maintenance of all the Power plants across Sudan.     

Background

Project Objective

A cardinal power plant of optimized capacity of 500 MW and supposed to be fueled by crude-oil has been recently established at Kosti, Sudan. The recurring project is supposed to ensure the steady and well-handed supply of crude-oil in order to explore the cost-effectiveness of the fuel to run the thermal power plant. Apart from that, the project is destined to pose an equivalent substitute in order to reduce the expenditure of energy consumption while stabilizing the electrical outputs and minimizing the ecological disasters and industrial pollution. Furthermore, they wish to accomplish those in terms of the traditional methods of fuel transportation.

Project Background

The current project is devised, manufactured, supplied and implemented on EPC basis while incorporating the ancillary civil works. Metering Skid is designed to  extract, filtrate, quantify and supply crude oil that PDOC is supposed to transmit through their export pipeline to the biggest power plant of Sudan which is composed of 4 units of 125 MW. The distance of the project location is almost 9 km from the Power Plant. It is an exaggeration to admit that, Sudanese thermal power generating company (STPG) is one of the cardinal stakeholders of the recurring project. The contract of the additional activities associated with civil engineering was endowed to Asawer Oil and PDOC technical services unit conducted Gas and the other consulting services. The approximate financial estimate of the underlying project is 4,405,486 USD.  

Tasks and Responsibilities

•  I am the sole liable to ensure the accumulation of inputs in order to ensure the project documentation
• I used to supervise the incipient investigation in the piping network hydrotest in order to ensure the performance of the inputs as per the requirements
• I have ensured proper installation of all the requisite apparatus while examining their operation standards as per the Instructions of HSE standards
• I used to track the progress of the activities by site inspections while ensuring the desired performance characteristics
• I have examined all the associated interfaces prior to the operative process and through deviation I have examined every requisite changes  

Organizational Chart

Engineering Skills

The pre-ordained operating condition is; 

Operating Pressure: 90 bar

Operating Temperature: 70 C

Pour point: 39

Flash Point: 50

Wax Content: 14.6

I was deployed to clarify the project scope against the multiple phases of the project. One of the major tasks amidst that is to commission the crude oil metering skid. In order to achieve that, I have employed two 12” ANSI 600 and tap off streams customized at the handling capacity of 20000 bbl. The system values of the metering skid has been operated through ASTM factors.

Apart from my engineering acumen, I have employed my understandings regarding the scope management guidance in order to define the requisite Work Breakdown Structure towards the installation of the bidirectional sphere prover unit.    

Technical Challenges

A problem in this regard has been evoked out where despite of the instruction of running the thermal power plant in its optimum capacity and the identical indication provided by the Metering skid, the Power plant have been identified flowing in a least rate. I have discovered the flaw that all the components of the plant are running at the desired rate but the Metering skid appears to run at a high outlet pressure, which can be cited as the reason of potential line blockage. In this regard, I have communicated with the control room of the Thermal Power plant and asked for the assistance of the hot tapping team.  

Technical design issues

As the Metering Skid is situated in a province where rain and the subsequent muddy soil are prevalent, It has been considered as an governing parameter while finalizing the technical specification of the requisite apparatus. However, the hypothetical scenario has started creating serious technical hindrances. In this regard, the fluids started to flow accumulatively due to the presence of severe functional design issues. In this regard, as per my suggestion and the approval from the thermal power plant a sump pit has been installed which appear equipped with a screw pump that is potent enough to prevent the fluids from accumulation

Calculations & Simulations

As per the project requirements, the entire operational purposes have been responded in this project by FLUMETEC control system, which has been endowed to the project by Fluid Metering System Company. In this regard, control system appears to transmitting and receiving the operating commands with requisite effectiveness.

Summary

The Metering Skid project is supposed to add a golden dimension regarding the energy requisites that is prevalent in Sudan. It has considerably contributed to the sudden hike in the domestic electric power demand since it has been able to establish the Power plant station at the lowest possible cost. In this regard, I can admit that it has been an enriching project for me since it has enabled me with the platform where I can exercise all of my engineering acumen in order to ensure the desired precision of the project deliverables.