Venture
into the world of industrial turbomachinery and oil and gas solutions
Issue 15 | May 2011
Focus
Drillships: Going deep with
trust and passion
Spotlight
Forging ahead with subsea
technology
Monitor
SGT-750 — What customers
asked for in a gas turbine
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Dear Readers,
Welcome to a new Venture magazine. This issue will be distributed at the Offshore
Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, during the first week of May and therefore
reflects our offshore technologies business. From subsea to drillships and back
again, we visit a shipyard in Korea that has close cooperation with our oil & gas hub
in Singapore, meet the man who designed the cooling system for the STC-ECO
subsea compressor, and present some recent strategic business tie-ups, including the
acquisition of two Norwegian subsea specialist companies who will enrich our
portfolio and extend our competence. Our recently launched SGT-750 industrial gas
turbine also makes a guest appearance: already in the design phase this turbine
was marinized for the tough roll and pitch of offshore applications.
Enjoy reading and an open welcome to meet us in Houston!
Tom Blades, President
Siemens Energy Sector, Oil & Gas Division
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Inside
Inside
06
14
04 News flash Around the world
Projects in Australia and Norway, and a boost of subsea competence
06 Focus Going deep with trust and passion
Delivering essential electric power packages to the worlds leading
manufacturer of drillships
14 Spotlight Forging ahead
18
Awarded “Siemens Innovator of the Year”, Wolfgang Zacharias
is the brain behind the cooling system of Siemens STC-ECO subsea
motor-compressor unit
18 Monitor SGT-750
With the latest SGT-750, Siemens developed the first of a whole new
breed of industrial gas turbines, based on extensive customer research
Cover photo: Drillships and a semi-submersible drilling rig at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and
Marine Engineering (DSME) in Okpo, South Korea
IMPRINT
Publisher: Siemens AG, Energy Sector, Oil & Gas, Wolfgang-Reuter-Platz, 47053 Duisburg, Germany Responsible: Dr. Uwe Schütz Editorial team: Lynne Anderson (Head),
Manfred Wegner Contact: lynne.anderson@siemens.com Contributing editor: Eric Johnson, Thomas Chatterton Design: Formwechsel Designbüro, Berlin
Photography: Jochen Balke, Florian Sander, Edgar Hendrassen Lithography: TiMe GmbH, Mülheim Printing: Köller+Nowak GmbH, Düsseldorf.
© 2011 Siemens AG. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical photocopying, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
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Vista
A R O u N D T H E W A l l S — Engineering headquarters of Daewoos DSME shipyard at Okpo, South Korea, see article on page 6.
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News flash
Around the world
1
Acquisition of subsea specialists Poseidon and
Bennex strengthens the Siemens Subsea Portfolio
Subsea processing is the most rapidly growing application in the
oil and gas industry as depletion of onshore reserves and a mounting
demand on the world market are forcing oil and gas companies to
exploit fields in remote places at ever greater water depths.
The strong strategic match between Siemens, Poseidon and Bennex
will enable quicker realization of the companies’ development plans
and the transaction will be very positive for employees, customers
and stakeholders. The subsea hydraulic and electrical subsea distribution systems, fiber optic, electromagnetic and seismic applications
supplied by Bennex add a decisive building block to the Siemens subsea
portfolio. The role of the Poseidon engineers will be to marinize the
proven Siemens offshore portfolio for subsea applications, including
subsea control systems, transformers, switchgears, electric motors,
automation and compressors along with other complementary
elements such as subsea cameras and subsea electric valve actuators.
“This acquisition brings new capabilities to Siemens in subsea engineering, equipment marinization and electrical connector penetrator
technology, the primary elements of solution based on in-house
products,” emphasizes Tom Blades, CEO of the Siemens Oil & Gas
Division.
2
Efficient solutions for unconventional gas gathering in Australia
Siemens Energy is to deliver up to 10 compressor trains to Australia
Pacific LNG (APLNG) in Queensland, Australia, a joint venture between
Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips. The project involves development
of coal-seam gas fields in south central Queensland over a 30-year
period. It includes construction of upstream gas-gathering and processing facilities, together with a 450-km main transmission pipeline
from the gas fields to the LNG facility, being built on Curtis Island near
Gladstone. The Siemens compression solution will be incorporated
into the upstream gas-gathering facilities to compress low-pressure
coal-seam gas for delivery to the LNG facility, where it will be compressed and cooled into liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Each compression train consists of two compressor skids, one lowpressure and one high-pressure, each skid carrying two compressors
with variable speed drives. Each train is designed to transport around
84 million standard cubic feet per day of gas. The compressors have
to demonstrate a high level of reliability and flexibility to suit the
LNG facility requirements.
Coal-seam gas is a natural gas which is mainly composed of methane.
It is a by-product of ancient plant matter that has formed over millions
of years by the same natural processes which produce coal.
3 Statoil and Siemens team up
Statoil and Siemens have agreed to team up to push forward
developments in subsea technology, electrical engineering technology,
energy efficiency measures and wind power.
Statoil said co-operation between the companies facilitates the
development of new technology. Halfdan Knudsen, senior vice
president for process and refining technology in Statoil, said: “Based
on complementary user needs and technological opportunities
we aim at developing technological solutions that contribute to more
environmentally friendly, effective production. This is a strategically
important agreement for Statoil.”
Siemens is an important Statoil supplier within several areas, and
the two companies already co-operate in the technology development
area. An umbrella agreement has therefore now been developed,
structuring the framework of the technology partnership within R&D
and technology development and facilitating the start-up of new
cooperation projects.
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Focus
Going deep
with trust and
passion
In an extremely competitive market for deep-water drillships, manufacturer
DSME is relying on electric power packages from Siemens. The simple secret
of success: Proximity of Siemens Oil & Gas to the South Korean shipyard.
Perhaps we all know that the earth is 40,000-km
round at the equator, but the practicality of
that really sinks in when a global project is on
deadline. Take the case of Daewoo Shipbuilding
and Marine Engineering (DSME), which sources
its shipyard off the southern tip of Korea with
components and services from 40 to 50 major
suppliers that are located — literally — all over
the world.
“Sometimes during the engineering, installation and commissioning of a new ship, we
can make mistakes or our supplier can make
mistakes,” notes DSME’s Tae-Young Kang,
Senior Engineer and in charge of electrical and
control system design. “This is unavoidable,
but to stay on schedule, we need to respond
quickly. Siemens Oil & Gas team is higly
dedicated so when we ask them for help,
they often come back with answers on the
same day.”
This, according to Eun-Kerl lee, Procurement
Manager Offshore with DSME, is where
Siemens towers above its competitors. “All the
suppliers must communicate,” he notes,
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Focus
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DRILLSHIP
OWNER
END USER
Platinum Explorer
TMT & Vantage
ONGC India
Dragon Quest
TMT & Vantage
Petrobras
NORBE VIII
Odebrecht
Petrobras
NORBE IX
Odebrecht
Petrobras
Cobalt Explorer
TMT
To be announced
Carolina
Petroserv
Petrobras
ODN I
Odebrecht/Delba
Petrobras
ODN II
Odebrecht/Delba
Petrobras
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Focus
The lobby of DSME shipyard, with the corporate motto chiseled in marble.
“but none of them do it as well as Siemens.”
Of course the top-notch technical performance
of its equipment is highly valued by DSME,
but what sets Siemens apart from the crowd is
accessibility and prompt response.
and what role Siemens equipment plays in
them.
test of performance comes when swells and
tides join the action.
That’ll be the Daewoo
This is where dynamic positioning (DP) comes
into play. DP maintain a vessel’s position and
heading by use of propellers and thrusters. An
array of sensors — that measure geographic
position, wind and motion — coupled with gyro
compasses, tell a central computer the vessel’s
position as well as the outside forces affecting
that position. using a mathematical model that
includes all these inputs plus the vessel’s drag
and its propeller and thruster abilities, the
computer calculates the required steering angle
and output for each thruster. This allows operations in the deep sea where mooring or
anchoring is impossible, or in shallower areas
where anchors are forbidden due to pipelines
or other congestion on the sea floor.
That is fulsome praise — which so far has been
more than matched by deeds. From 2005 to
2010, the shipbuilder bought Siemens powerpackages for 13 drillship and semi-submersible
platform projects (see table for the most recent
ones) at a total value north of euro 300 million.
First things first: these ships are behemoths.
Stretching some 240 m long by 40 m wide and
20 meters below the deck, and wired by some
700,000 meters of data and power cables, their
operating gear — crowned by an unmistakeable oil derrick poking up from the middle
— reaches another 70 meters into the sky. They
weigh over 100,000 metric tons.
For Siemens this is an honour as well as a
sizable order. So to commemorate the occasion,
Venture took an onsite look at Daewoo’s
ship building operations at Geoje Island, to
learn more about what the vessels can do,
where they are deployed, how they are built
As is obvious from their name, drillships
are meant to drill the ocean floor for oil and
gas reservoirs, penetrating up to 10,000 ft
(3,048 m) of seawater followed by up to another
30,000 ft (9,146 m) of the earth’s crust. In calm
seas this is challenging enough, but the real
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Focus
Trust, passion and mutual understanding — essential ingredients of a working relationship. From left to right: Tae-Young Kan, Senior Engineer for
offshore electrical and control systems, DSME; Myeong-Cheol Shin, Senior Manager offshore projects, DSME; Eun-Kerl Lee, Procurement Manager, DSME;
YeongJoon Jeong, Project Site Manager, Siemens; Cheol Chae, Director, Head of Busan branch, Siemens; P.K. Naik, Senior Project Manager, Siemens.
Not only drillers use dynamic positioning. It
also sees duty in semi-submersible units as
well as pipe layers and oceanographic research
vessels. In any case, the DP system is mission
critical. In drilling, DP is the failsafe that keeps
pipes from cracking or leaking under the stress
of movement. So it is no wonder that DSME and
Siemens treat it with such care. “DP3, the latest
and most stringent version of DP specifications,
requires the dynamic positioning system to
maintain the position of the ship during and
following any single fault, including loss of
compartment due to flood or fire,” explains P.K.
Naik, Senior Project Manager with Siemens
Singapore Oil & Gas Division. Tae-Young Kang
adds: “Basically, DP operates in island mode,
with completely redundant power supply. Even
in the event of maximum failure of the
11kV switchboard, we’ll lose no more than two
thrusters and two generators, but the remaining thrusters will keep the ship in position.”
The entire DP system is engineered based on
FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis)
procedures, and is subjected to more than
100 tests before final commissioning.
Industry experts estimate that more than
1,000 DP-able drillships are in action worldwide.
Most of them are run directly or indirectly by
the A-listers in the oil industry, companies such
as BP, ExxonMobil, Petrobras and Shell. Daewoo
vessels are on the job in all the major offshore
sites: Brazil, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Persian
Gulf and West Africa. Still to be drillshipped are
the final frontiers of the arctic, says DSME’s
Tae-Young Kang. “We have not yet mastered the
technology for drillships to handle extremely
cold climates.” Faced with the world’s unquench-
able thirst for oil, that barrier surely will fall,
and the number of drillships is sure to increase.
It’s about time
However, even as demand is climbing, thanks
to fierce competition, drillship prices are
actually in a modest decline. What currently
lists for uSD 500–600 million sold a few years
ago for nearer to uSD 750 million.
DSME’s response is to build them faster than
anyone else. Currently it takes a project
team, numbering some 500‒600 staff, about
30 months to deliver a ship: 12 months for
engineering and design topped by another
18 months of construction and commissioning.
“You cannot find this kind of speed elsewhere,”
assures Eun-Kerl lee who adds that the company is not resting on its laurels. “From cutting
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“To ensure faster response, since 2008 our
drillship project management is located in
the same time-zone as DSME. In addition,
were continuously increasing the number
of engineers available at our Busan and
Okpo offices.”
Cheol Chae, Director, Head of Siemens Busan branch
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Focus
WHAT’S UNDER THE HOOD:
• Alternators (6 x 11kV, ~ 8MVA)
• 11kV Switchgear c/w synch panels
• HV transformers – 18nos.
• Thruster drives – 6nos.
• Drilling drives
• Thruster motors (6 x 4.5/5.5MW)
• UPS system
• NGT
• Local power management system
• Power system studies for complete ship
(including LV)
• FMEA study
• Class certification through ABS/DNV
steel to delivering the ship, we’re already down
to 17 months, and we’re aiming to cut that time
even further.”
This need for speed is where Siemens enters
the picture. As expected, DSME values Siemens’
excellent qualifications as well as its good-quality product and solutions. Its unique selling
principle, though, is Siemens’ ability to respond
rapidly to DSME’s needs, which is possible with
a competent and dedicated execution team
serving from (relatively) nearby Singapore. It
is from here, where Siemens has been present
for over a century and now has more than 2,000
employees, that DSME’s demand is satisfied.
Show me the goods
For each drillship, Siemens is supplying a power
package (see box) that supplies electricity from
the ships six massive diesel generators through
11-kV switchboards to the entire vessel, most
importantly its workhorses: the drill and the
ship’s thrusters which through guidance of
the dynamic positioning system, keep the drill
where it is meant to be.
The drillship Venture visited was the Norbe IX.
Currently under commissioning, it is the 8th
such project of cooperation between DSME and
Siemens since May 2006. Summarizing his past
experience with Siemens, lee says: “We believe
Siemens have a very good product — and a
good organisation as well. So, we have trust in
the product and the people, and we consider
Siemens a very good colleague for the success
of our drillship projects.” So, it wouldn't
surprise anyone if DSME wanted to continue its
successful cooperation with Siemens. What
does come as a surprise, however, is the sheer
number of future projects DSME wants to
realize together with Siemens. On April 6, DSME
issued an order for the supply of power
solutions for three more drillships, plus a letter
of intent for another seven drillships and —
a first for the Siemens Singapore team — a
semi-submersible drilling rig. Obviously, the
streak doesn’t stop here. So, watch this space!
TEXT
Eric Johnson P H O T O S
Jochen Balke
F u R T H E R R E l AT E D I N F O R M AT I O N
www.siemens.com/venture
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L O c at i O n
Okpo-dong area, Geoje island, South Korea
c O O r D i n at E S
34° 53' 17'' n, 128° 41' 37'' E
Dat E O f v i S i t
March 21 to 24, 2011
W E at h E r c O n D i t i O n S
fair, 7 degrees centigrade max.
PhEnOLOGy
unusually cold for time of year; cherry blossom
probably delayed by a week or two
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Off Limits
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Spotlight
Wolfgang Zacharias — Awarded “Siemens Innovator of the Year” for his contribution to the STC-ECOs cooling system
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Spotlight
Forging ahead
Imagination and fantasy are essential prerequisites when it comes to finding unconventional solutions
for unconventional applications. Add decades of experience and excellence in workmanship, and you’ll
get a fairly precise outline of Wolfgang Zacharias — Siemens Innovator of the Year and developer of the
cooling system of Siemens STC-ECO subsea motor-compressor unit.
The massive steel capsule would be the pride of any blacksmith. Not
that Wolfgang Zacharias — a trained blacksmith — is responsible for
the impressive shell: his job was to ensure the successful function of its
even more impressive contents. And he did such a good job, that this
engineer, based in Duisburg, was recently chosen as one of the Siemens
Innovators of the Year for his work with components for subsea equipment. In particular for the design of a cooling system for the compressor
and its motor, which are contained by the steel capsule in question.
They are part of the STC-ECO solution, a hermetically sealed integrated
motor and compressor unit for dirty-gas applications. Setting up such
equipment onshore is easy business and has been done many times. But
setting it up at the bottom of the sea is pioneers’ work.
Huge oil and gas finds off the coasts of Brazil and elsewhere in the world,
including the frosty north, call for equipment to be placed nearer to the
pockets of oil and gas — thus at the bottom of the sea, the potential
location for a flourishing subsea oil and gas industry.
“Conditions are rough down there, and maintenance is prohibitively
costly in the extreme environment encountered at 3000 meters
below sea level,” says Zacharias. The major challenge is thus to raise
reliability of the equipment even further to allow for maintenance
cycles of five years without intervention. One way of achieving this is
the reduction of inlet and outlet pipes and the use of a seal-less design.
The latter has the additional advantage that it reduces the probability
of leakage.
The revolutionary design of the STC-ECO which makes it suitable for
the extreme conditions encountered on the seabed, especially the high
pressure, creates its own challenges: conventional cooling designs do
not work. Motor and compressor are not separate units here, as they are
in onshore applications. Thus both produce process heat within a relatively small, tightly confined area. Cooling fins that would transport the
heat away from its source are not practical in this case, partly due to
the very compact design of the device. And as if this was not enough of
a problem, Zacharias had to deal with an additional complication: in
order to fit the motor into the same capsule as the compressor it must
be able to withstand the raised pressure inside. Also, the particularly
sensitive copper wiring of the motor must not come into contact with the
gas since this could cause corrosion or physical damage through sand
particles, which are sometimes found in raw gas.
“It was obvious that we would have to work with a separate cooling cycle
under these circumstances. Compressor and motor simply produce too
much waste heat. Even the cool waters at the bottom of the sea cannot
reduce the temperature sufficiently,” says Zacharias.
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to be higher than the pressure of the cooling liquid, therefore the shield
could break easily. To make matters worse: the pressure of the gas
changes constantly, due to natural conditions at the gas deposit or shifting patterns of production. “To avoid damage of the shield we have to
make sure that the pressure on both sides is about equal at any given
time,” explains Zacharias.
The inventor and the machine he co-fathered.
“Maybe a third of my inventions seemingly come out
of the blue. An idea, a quick
draft and it turns out that
it really works.”
For the cooling cycle Midel is used as cooling fluid. It transports the
excess heat from the copper wiring out of the steel capsule, to a heat
exchanger. Together with other auxiliary systems and the steel capsule,
the heat exchanger is located within a metal frame, which contains the
complete STC-ECO solution — in total measuring somewhat less than
five cubic meters.
However, for Zacharias, who claims 28 entirely own inventions, alongside 34 patents, work was not done simply by setting up a cooling cycle.
The wiring of the motor, which is surrounded by the cooling oil, must
be shielded from the process gas. This is done by means of a highly
resistant barrier. The resulting problem: the pressure of the gas tends
To achieve this, he and his team developed a sophisticated control system,
which constantly adapts the pressure of the cooling liquid to match the
pressure of the raw gas flowing through the compressor. “This control
system must work perfectly. The reason is simple: Once the device has
been brought to the bottom of the sea it will have to work without flaws
and without maintenance for years,” Zacharias adds.
Currently a long-term test with a pilot system is being carried out, one
aspect of this testing being to expose the system and its components to
extreme stress levels, to identify their respective breaking points. This
is an important part of the creative process of making a product out
of an invention. According to Zacharias there is more than one way to
spark ideas which lead to inventions. “Maybe a third of my inventions
seemingly come out of the blue. An idea, a quick draft and it turns out
that it really works,” he says. But most inventions are the result of the
continuing struggle of an engineer to make an incremental improvement
to an existing machine. If you’re lucky, the increment turns out to be
a leap rather than a step — and becomes an invention. “It is natural for
inventions to be the result of team work rather than the result of a
single man’s genius. There is frequently more than one name on a patent,” says Zacharias.
And sometimes the improvement was never even intended. The STC-ECO,
developed for subsea applications, could turn out to be an asset onshore,
too. Its seal-less design makes it particularly safe with regard to leakages.
This is particularly beneficial when it comes to the handling of hazardous and toxic gases, like those containing mercury, H2S or CO. The solution also allows for greater plant safety, due to its fully integrated, canned
design. Compared to solutions consisting of discrete components, this
means a substantial reduction of interfaces and thus of complexity. And
while space is not exactly a limiting factor on the seabed, it can be in landbased installations: The vertical, integrated concept of the STC-ECO reduces its footprint, thus requiring less space than conventional solutions.
The application of the solution in the context of a live subsea offshore
project might still be some years away, when the long-term testing has
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Spotlight
Top left: Prototype of the STC-ECO at NAMs Vries-IV gas-gathering site south of Groningen, Netherlands. Top right: Tubing of the STC-ECOs Midel
cooling system. Bottom left: The ancient smithy of Wolfgang Zacharias father. Bottom right: Assembly of the STC-ECO at Siemens Hengelo workshop.
been concluded successfully. During this process new issues might come
up, calling for both the creativity and perseverance of Wolfgang Zacharias
and his team. But no doubt, he would come up with a solution. In spite
of all the modesty he displays when asked about the recognition as Innovator of the Year: “look at all those other guys who were awarded. They
tend to have a lot more patents than I do. In that sense I am only average,”
he says, half joking.
He has proven himself with his inventions, so does not need to prove
himself again with big words. In the near future Zacharias will retire,
looking back at a professional life full of increasingly sophisticated
engineering achievements. A career that had begun with a hammer and
an anvil and the hot fire in his father's smithy, where he had been trained
to become a smith himself.
The workshop still exists, although it is a little dusty now, having lain
idle for many years. “Who knows?” says Zacharias, “maybe I will take up
the hammer again when I retire.” He would then, once again, forge iron
rather than ideas.
TEXT
thomas chatterton P H O T O S
florian Sander, harry reusmann, Edgar hendrassen
F u R T H E R R E l AT E D I N F O R M AT I O N
www.siemens.com/venture
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Monitor
SGT-750 — Proven technology,
perfected results
What do customers really want, and what is the range that is
important for the next stage of development? Benchmarking gave
Siemens the answers for the SGT-750 industrial gas turbine.
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Monitor
Voices are heard from the
control room:
ignition
sequence
start
Pressure
oK
oK,
let’s go
Power on
all
systems
green
Center in Norrköping. Fifty VIP guests — customers, partners and journalists — and as many
representatives from Siemens Energy, have
been welcomed by the head of Industrial Power,
Dr. Markus Tacke, to the inauguration of the
first industrial gas turbine for ten years, the
37MW SGT-750.
“Combining heritage with leading-edge design
and engineering, this piece of machinery is
designed to deliver maximized customer value
day in, day out” the narrator’s voice impresses
upon us.
Count on it
And suddenly there we are, revolving in space
and hurtling through the internals of the
SGT-750 gas turbine in a rollercoaster ride that
takes us into unbelievably intimate contact
with the newly designed turbine such as never
before experienced. We almost touch the
value words that loom at us on the full-surround
screen
customer Value — uPtime —
Performance — new Power
range — world class dry
low emissions — fleXiBility
The occasion is the November VIP launch of
the latest Siemens industrial gas turbine. The
venue is the recently inaugurated Visualization
Reliability was the big message that came back
from the customer survey which Siemens carried out before embarking upon the design of
its latest gas turbine. uptime and serviceability
were the criteria that were the backbone of
the turbine design. In order to assure that the
requirements were met, an innovative design
approach was used: a full-scale 3D studio was
used so that the turbine could ‘grow’ in natural
scale, based on sophisticated modeling techniques to indicate well in advance if there were
any pitfalls in the design. This technology
enabled close cooperation between designers
and service engineers from the very earliest
stages. This advanced 3D visualization program
enabled the engineers to check that the design
allowed full serviceability of important components and areas, without major disassembly
of the unit.
17 days in 17 years
Not only the core engine, but also the overall
package, is designed to provide owner confidence. The modular design supports easy
maintenance and maximized uptime. The
SGT-750 was designed for maximized serviceability and minimized load-to-load downtime.
To start with, the modular build-up facilitates
swift disassembly and parts replacement. If
the customer chooses the on-site 24-hour generator swap option, Siemens can schedule
as little as 17 days’ maintenance time over a
17-year service period. This 24-hour exchange
of the complete gas generator can is key to the
outstandingly high uptime capability.
Siemens’ solution-oriented approach has
resulted in a turnkey product that is fit for hard
work in many demanding applications, not
least in the oil and gas industry.
Filling the gap
SGT-750, as its name implies, will fill the gap
between the 32MW SGT-700 and 47MW SGT-800
gas turbines. With a launch output of 37 MW,
the Siemens SGT-750 fits perfectly into the
Siemens range of industrial gas turbines from
4 to 47 MW. It offers high output, marketleading efficiency and future-proof DlE emission control.
The SGT-750 is seen primarily as a fit for the
future mechanical drive market, following the
market trend for greater unit power. Since the
Mechanical drive 37.11 MW (49,765 bhp)
• Fuel: natural gas
• Efficiency: 40.0%
• Heat rate: 9,002 kJ/kWh (6,362 Btu/bhph)
• Turbine speed: 3050–6400 rpm
• Compressor pressure ratio: 23.8:1
• Exhaust gas flow: 113.3 kg/s (249.8 lb/s)
• Temperature: 462° C (864° F)
• NOx emissions (with DLE, corrected to 15% O2 dry): ≤ 15ppmV
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entire design of the SGT-750 has been targeted
to meet the stringent requirements of the
oil & gas industry, the core engine is suitable
for operation in extreme climates, from arctic
to desert environments, from -60°C to +55°C.
Additionally, the gas turbine meets the pitchand-roll requirements for installations on FPSO
and marine applications, in accordance with
DNV rules and regulations.
However, the turbine’s high efficiency and rapid
start capability make it an equally competitive
machine for the power generation market.
SGT-750 sets a new standard of efficiency for
industrial gas turbines in this power range.
Reaching 38.7% in power generation applications and afull 40% in mechanical drive
applications helps push fuel consumption down to even lower levels, still
keeping — and improving — all the
benefits of
a robust, easy-to-service industrial
design.
well suited where grid requirements call for
maintained power output in the event of frequency drop.
and perfect adaptability to fixed or floating
installations, onshore and offshore, upstream,
midstream or downstream.
Mechanical drive
On upstream production facilities, it can be used
to drive pumps and compressors for various
applications such as associated gas reinjection,
water injection or export gascompressors to
forward produced gas to treatment facilities. In
midstream applications it can drive gas pipeline compressors, the refrigerant compressor
trains on mid-size lNG liquefaction plant (onshore or offshore) or on liquefaction processes
using cascade processes. Waste heat from the
turbine exhaust can also be recovered to provide
process steam or hot oil for oil and gas treatment and separation processes, or to raise steam
to generate additional p ower from steam turbine generators, increasing the overall energy
efficiency of a facility.
The sheer robustness and stability of the
37 MWs SGT-750 makes it a perfect option for
mechanical drive applications within the oil
and gas industry. The dual-fuel online switchover capabilities provide a unique built-in
flexibility when it comes to ambient climate,
A turbine for all seasons
Power generation /cogeneration
In power generation and cogeneration, SGT-750 demonstrates its
flexibility, being the perfect option
for base load, standby power and
peak lopping. The fast start-up and
cycling capability both support intermediate to continuous operation with
improved turndown capability, high
efficiency and low emission levels.
Through the use of a free power turbine, the 36 MWe SGT-750 is also
Power generation 35.93 MW(e)
• Fuel: natural gas
• Frequency: 50/60Hz
• Electrical efficiency: 38.7%
• Heat rate: 9,296kJ/kWh
(8,811 Btu/kWh)
• Turbine speed: 6,100 rpm
• Compressor pressure ratio: 23.8:1
• Exhaust gas flow: 113.3 kg/s
(249.8 lb/s)
• Exhaust temperature: 462° C (864° F)
• NOx emissions (with DLE, corrected
to 15% O2 dry): ≤ 15ppmV
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Siemens and Leon AB were awarded the regional annual marketing prize for their “Count on it” campaign of the year.
Keeping the turbine running
Reliability is always an important issue: never
more so than in the demanding environments
of oil and gas production and transport, where
surprises are to be avoided and rugged machinery and detailed planned maintenance are
essential. Operation of the rotating equipment
is critical for the operator: no power, no production, no revenue. So the longer the plant is
able to operate without interruptions, the better
the financial returns for the operator.
In the SGT-750 reliability is inbuilt. The turbine
is programmed to run for four whole years of
operation before a hot-section inspection is
advised. Remote, on-line check of the complete
engine is performed once a year from the manufacturing unit.
Where do we go from here?
The film ends with a breathless fly-in over deserts and high seas — the natural world of the
oil and gas markets. Time to test our orientation
as we leave our seats: I listen for reactions and
comments: “Impressive, very impressive!”
“Brilliant. Fun and informative.” These comments set the tone. Herbert Habersätter, SAAPI’s
gas turbine specialist and adviser, is more
specific: “I appreciated the opportunity to talk
directly to members of the development team,”
he says “and I won’t forget the 3D-presentation
and the trip through the turbine in a hurry!”
Now it is time to board the specially decorated
bus and visit the Finspong manufacturing site,
some 30 kilometers away. This is where the
SGT-750 is being built, and where it is being
presented today by the Finspong experts in the
context of the overall product family. News on
these products is also on the agenda.
The first two units will be produced for testing
at a specially designed rig. Testing will continue
until the first commercial unit begins operation
so that there is still time to make improvements
prior to a full global release. First delivery is
estimated for 2012. Siemens is currently in talks
with several interested customers.
It is anticipated that the SGT-750 will become a
standard in its range for power generation,
since Siemens has incorporated the best features
from its turbine range into this machine. The
power generation market is always in need of
reliable and economic power producers and the
SGT-750 is entering a new power range, increasing the company’s flexibility on the market.
Meanwhile the oil & gas market is facing its own
challenges: eliminating flaring of associated
gas; operating in more remote and harsher
environments; monetizing stranded gas assets;
and providing low carbon energy at the lowest
possible cost to consumers located long distances from the source of the oil and gas.
lNG (liquefied Natural Gas) is one of the
possible solutions for all these issues, onshore
or offshore. The lNG value chain uses a gas
turbine in several applications: as the driver for
the main refrigerant compressors in the liquefaction process; to provide power (and heat) for
the rest of the liquefaction plant, including any
gas treatment facilities; and to provide power,
and sometimes heat, for the regasification
process at the lNG receiving terminal. Whatever
the specific solution selected, reliable sources
of power and compression will be required and
the gas turbine will be there to fulfil these
needs.
The markets are there and the turbine will soon
be available: together with the other solutions
in the Siemens Energy total offer, the new
SGT-750 will contribute to generating power
and value for decades to come. Count on it!
TEXT
Elise chaplin P H O T O S
Siemens
F u R T H E R R E l AT E D I N F O R M AT I O N
www.siemens.com/venture
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E50001-E440-F156-V1-4A00
Deepsea Atlantic, a sixth-generation semi-submersible drilling rig
designed by GVA Consultants and owned and operated by Odfjell
Drilling, is ideally suited to operate in environmentally sensitive
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areas. Along with its highly efficient design, the rig features electrical solutions with state-of-the-art technology ensuring safe
operation and high availability.
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Availability is key at sea.
Highly reliable and high-performance electrical offshore equipment.
Solutions for the oil and gas industry
The entire electrical system, from the generation plant to the
drive systems, has been designed and supplied by Siemens.
As Deepsea Atlantic often operates in harsh climates, availability
is key, and Siemens technology has proven itself superbly here,
braving the elements and ensuring reliable operations – delivering the Siemens promise literally anywhere and anytime.
www.siemens.com/oilandgas
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Uhr
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www.siemens.com
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