Khursaniyah Gas Plant Experience with Foaming During Startup of Karan Non-Associated Gas

iven certain conditions and circumstances. This paper describes the investigations that Saudi Aramco pursued to eliminate early foaming incidents during the commissioning stage. The paper emphasizes the need for rigorous process evaluation and the application of fundamental principles in plant trouble-shooting. With a joint effort between Khursaniyah Gas Plant Engineering and the MDEA specialist (INEOS), the root causes of foaming were identified and corrected without any capital investment. Karan Nonassociated (NA) Sour Gas is a CO2 rich stream. Formulated MDEA (GasSpec SS-3) was selected for Sweetening in Karan Gas treating facilities to enhance the H2S/CO2 ratio in acid gas and to meet the required Sales Gas specification prior to sending it to the Saudi Master Gas System (MGS). The Karan nonassociated sour gas field was discovered by Saudi Aramco in 2006. This newly developed offshore field is located 120 kilometers northwest of Jubail Industrial City in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Produced sour gas is coblended at a tie-in offshore platform through five 20” subsea flow lines. From the tie-in offshore platform, the gas is being sent via a 38” subsea pipeline to the onshore gas treatment facilities in Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP), where new gas processing facilities were constructed. Karan facilities consist of three gas treatment processing trains, each designed to process 620 MMSCFD of NA sour gas, producing sales gas and acid gas.