Pumping up Volume
Wingas, the joint venture of BASF affiliate Wintershall with Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom,
is continuously beefing up its Central European gas transport and storage infrastructure.
Powered by two Siemens SGT-700 gas turbines, its Eischleben compressor station near Erfurt,
Germany, is the latest to be inaugurated.
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Totaling some 2,000 kilometers, the Wingas pipeline network delivers natural gas to
utilities and industrial customers throughout Germany and to neighboring countries.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
Wingas was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between Russian OAO
Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer with reserves
of some 180 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), and Wintershall,
a 100% affiliate of BASF AG, Germany’s largest industrial natural
gas consumer. Since its establishment, Wingas has been pioneering
the German and Central European natural gas markets. Notably,
the company to date invested some 3 billion euro into the development of its own infrastructure, including a pipeline system
totaling about 2,000 kilometers, plus a natural gas storage facility at
Rehden, Germany. Boasting a working gas capacity of more than
4 billion cubic meters, the Rehden storage is the largest of its kind in
Western Europe. Yet, storage capacities will be stepped up substantially in the very near future with facilities near Haidach, Austria, and
Saltfleetby near Bacton, UK, the receiving terminal of the Interconnector and the future BBL pipeline, on which the company secured substantial capacities.
Due to dwindling production in the UK sector of the North Sea, the
United Kingdom has become one of the fastest-growing import
markets. Against this background, Wingas concluded a framework
agreement in 2003 with Gazexport, a subsidiary of Gazprom, for the
purpose of marketing Russian natural gas in the trading hubs of
Belgium and the United Kingdom.
BOOSTING PERFORMANCE
With European natural gas volumes forecasted to grow up to 50% by
2025 and liberalization of European markets imminent, Wingas
continues massive investment in optimization of infrastructure.
Additional pipelines are being built parallel to those already
existing, while the number of compressor stations is gradually increased together with today’s 470 megawatts (MW) of cumulative
compressor power. Powered by two Siemens SGT-700 gas turbines,
the Wingas Eischleben compressor station near Erfurt, Germany,
has been the latest to be inaugurated. Together with a 90-km loop
currently under construction, the facility is designed to substantially boost the capacity of Wingas’ all-important east-west connection, linking the terminals at Mallnow and Olbernhau — where
the Siberian gas crosses the German border — with the company’s
transport and storage infrastructure.
ANYTHING BUT RUN-OF-THE-MILL
When Siemens received the order for the two Eischleben compressor strings in December 2003, it was clear that this would be a
project with a number of extra challenges. The SGT-700 (GT10C),
an uprated design based on the established SGT-600 (GT10B),
had virtually no field references. Extensive tests had been carried
out at Siemens’ facility in Finspong, Sweden, with two strings
designed to handle residue gas at the UGDC C2/C3-refinery in Port
Said, Egypt — the first SGT-700s ever to be deployed. However, field
data from this project was unlikely to be available before commissioning of the Wingas machines, as the timelines of both projects
were too similar. Given the absence of installed references, Wingas’
Photos: Florian Sander, Illustration: Ji-Young Ahn
Throughout Central Europe, the past few decades have seen natural
gas continuously replacing oil as the major primary energy.
However, from wells to consumers the major share of it has to be
brought over thousands of miles by pipeline. With supplies amounting to some 3 million cubic meters per hour, the Progress and
Yamal Europe pipeline systems — running respectively from the West
Siberian Basin via Ukraine, Slovakia and Czech Republic and via
Belarus and Poland — are among the prime feeds into the Central
European gas transport, storage and trading infrastructure operated by Wingas.
models have the same geometrical specs. It would have meant replacing a couple of fittings only.” Elegant as it would have been,
this solution remained unused!
SEAMLESS INTEGRATION
The heart of Wingas’ operations: dispatching center in Kassel, Germany.
decision in favor of the SGT-700 was based on historical experience
with Siemens and the proven reputation of the gas turbine family:
“Clearly, we wouldn’t have decided in favor of the SGT-700, had it
not carried the name Siemens,” said Klaus Haussmann, Senior
Project Manager at BASF AG and in charge of the engineering of a
number of Wingas’ facilities. He continued: “The nominal specs,
however, were exactly what we were looking for, including the
5 MW of extra power which would provide an additional margin of
throughput and improved fuel economics.”
PROVEN FALLBACK
It wasn’t without defining a fallback position that Wingas went for
the SGT-700. A worst-case scenario provisioned the slightly smaller
SGT-600 as a viable alternative in the event of unforeseen complications. By the end of 2004, the total fleet of SGT-600s had clocked
up the equivalent of 340 years of operating time — a fairly convincing proof of credibility in anyone’s terms. Said Haussmann: “In
case of a major problem with the SGT-700, we would have been able
to swap to the proven SGT-600 within just a week, since the two
The compressor strings for the Eischleben station were not only
innovative with regard to the drive. They were also the first to
be equipped with Siemens’ own PC S7 control system. When Wingas
started building bigger compressor stations in 1997, Siemens’ PC S7
became the standard control system throughout the company’s
facilities. Legacy systems have been successively migrated from the
former Siemens S5 and other makes to PC S7, ensuring that all
screens provide the same look and feel — from the local control room
at any of the compressor stations or storage facilities way up to the
dispatching center at the Wingas/Wintershall headquarters in
Kassel, Germany. Here, as many as 3,000 parameters per station are
constantly monitored and controlled by a SCADA (Supervisory
Control And Data Acquisition) system in order to match technical
operations with contractual delivery requirements. As a consequence, fitting the SGT-700s and compressors with PC S7 was essential for the seamless integration into an existing environment.
“The PC S7 was not really an option. It was a must. Otherwise, we
wouldn’t have bought the machines,” said Klaus Haussmann.
It was a priority after Siemens’ acquisition of the Alstom turbine
businesses in 2003 to implement the PC S7 system throughout the
entire range of industrial turbines as soon as possible. After a
pilot and test phase, the system has been brought on line with all
mid-range turbines manufactured in Finspong, Sweden, and
subsequently with the small gas turbines manufactured in Lincoln,
UK. Since January 2005, all industrial gas turbines are generally
available with PC S7 systems.
DEMANDING HSE REQUIREMENTS
There were some other unique challenges to the engineering of the
Eischleben SGT-700s, which were the first to be delivered within
Europe. Specific design solutions included a cooling system incor-
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One of two SGT-700 (formerly GT10C) gas turbines powering
the Wingas compressor station near Erfurt, Germany.
The Kondratki compressor station at the Polish/Russian border. To date,
Siemens supplied a total of 22 SGT-600s for compressor stations along
the Yamal Europe pipeline–one of three major feeds into Wingas’ gas transport
and storage infrastructure.
porated in the package, additional noise reduction to fulfill the
stringent German standards, and a horizontal exhaust with separate
stack. The equipment has met all the EU-ordinated PED (Pressure
European Directive) and ATEX (Potentially Explosive Atmospheres
Directive 94/9/EC) requirements for equipment to be located in a
hazardous area.
PLUGGING & PLAYING
DELIVERED PLUG & PLAY
When purchased as components, compressor trains are commonly
delivered in consortium, usually under the leadership of the compressor manufacturer. However, they are manufactured, tested and
delivered as separate components from separate suppliers, and
frequently not string-tested for joint functionality until installed on
the customer’s site. Eischleben, however, was the first Industrial
Applications project where the turbine and compressor were produced,
factory-tested and packaged under a single roof.
The turbine was manufactured in Finspong, Sweden, and the compressor in Duisburg, Germany, under common project management. Packaging after completion was coordinated in Finspong.
The most important synergies were in the design of the skids and
joint piping systems for the air, gas and lubricating oil to be
supplied to the components. System competence was imported from
Duisburg to supervise certain compressor-specific systems, such
as the seal gas panels supplying sealing air to the compressor seals.
Yet, the same design group was responsible for the whole design,
thus reducing the risk of interface problems and saving valuable
time upon arrival at site.
In spite of the challenging program, Siemens managed a normal
delivery time of 12 months from order to exworks. But an equally
challenging commissioning time lay ahead. April 1st, 2005 was the
day Wingas planned to pump gas.
As a matter of fact, the usual on-site test run had to be limited to a
mere 72 hours due to necessities arising from the revision
schedule of another compressor station along the Wingas pipeline
system. Fortunately, the Eischleben machines required just a
limited performance test upon arrival at site, having already undergone comprehensive workshop tests. As a result, they could
immediately equalize the reduced compression power of the station
due for revision. Ever since, “the machines run to our fullest
satisfaction — and with amazingly little vibration and pulsation,”
confirms Klaus Haussmann.
MOVING AHEAD
Wingas is a company in progress. Parallel to hardware upgrading,
the company is equipping itself to take advantage of the fully
liberalized gas markets in Germany and the U.K., and what will follow. A recently introduced sophisticated Entry-Exit system will
constitute the backbone of Wingas’ future transmission services,
ensuring ultimate transparency and manageability. Ready to
fully leverage on the unique partnership with OAO Gazprom and the
billions of euros invested since the early 1990s, Wingas is taking
European gas-to-gas competition to yet another level.
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C EU SS
Klaus Haussmann, Senior Project Manager, BASF
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Winning Teams
Team spirit, dedication, trust — according to Klaus Haussmann, Senior Project Manager at
BASF AG, this is the personal bottom line of the cooperation between Wingas and Siemens.
With a team of just six, he works as an internal EPC, lent from BASF to affiliate Wingas for
engineering and starting up facilities such as the Eischleben compressor station.
Venture: Mr. Haussmann, considering your views of Eischleben and other such projects, you seem to emphasize a
number of ‘soft factors’ to be of paramount importance for success?
Haussmann: Very much so. Of course, client and supplier have to share a common understanding of the contractual framework. However, considering the complexity of such projects, you probably cannot define every possible development in legal terminology. So, on a day-to-day basis, the
project teams have to share, say, a ‘can-do’ mindset, an understanding that even unforeseen problems can be solved without first consulting the fine print of the contract.
Venture: According to your personal experience, what have been the qualities that would best describe the cooperation between the Wingas and Siemens teams?
Haussmann: It was precisely that ‘can-do’ spirit, a personal dedication to getting things done.
This we found in the very young team from Siemens in Finspong, Sweden, who delivered and installed the turbomachinery. And it was also typical of the team from Siemens I&S in Essen, Germany,
who installed the PC S7 control system. It was give and take — in both directions. It is a relationship based on friendliness and trust.
Venture: Trust in Siemens you must have had, otherwise you would not have decided in favor of the SGT-700,
a gas turbine at that point without field reference?
Haussmann: Clearly, we would not have taken the risk, had we not had the conviction that Siemens
by their sheer size and technological expertise would have been able to furnish a proper and fast
solution in case of a problem with the SGT-700.
Venture: And, presumably, Eischleben hasn’t been your first project with Siemens?
Haussmann: Indeed. Apart from Siemens I&S we had some very positive experience with Siemens
PG, who have just installed an industrial CHP solution at the BASF facility in Ludwigshafen,
Germany, a project an order of magnitude larger than Eischleben.
Photo: Florian Sander
Venture: Sounds like it’s been a bed of roses! Have there not been any major problems or areas for improvement?
Haussmann: Occasional problems are a natural ingredient of complex projects. What makes all
the difference is the way such problems are solved. In that respect we are totally happy with how
things have gone. And ready for more.
Venture: Glimpsing into the future, what do you think of recent innovations in the field of turbomachinery,
such as dry-dry solutions or active magnetic bearings?
Haussmann: Since the mid 90’s we have followed the development of magnetic bearings with
great interest. It seems that initial problems with controlers have been overcome and that today’s
AMBs are very reliable. In principle, I think AMBs are very elegant solutions, notably under environmental aspects, which, as you know, are of the greatest importance in the oil & gas industry. The
same applies to dry-dry solutions. We consider both as options for our future machinery.