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KTH lube systems for new El Merk project

The El Merk field is located approximately 300 Km south east of Hassi Messaoud in the Algerian Sahara in a remote, harsh desert location where the terrain consists of large interlocking sand dunes.

The exploitation of these oil and gas reserves requires a complete infrastructure to be built and operated in this harsh environment. A pipeline network will connect the oil and gas wells to a central processing plant via 10 gathering stations. The reserves feeding the processing plant will be extracted using water and gas injection, to help maintain planned output and optimise production.

KTH is to supply pump lube systems for 11 massive water injection pumps, which will be critical to the successful operation of the El Merk field. The KTH systems, designed to API614 Chapter 2 specification, have been incorporated onto the pump skid of each of the Sulzer pumps and are each cooled by an off skid, twin-fan airblast cooler to API661 specification in order to cope with the high temperature environment.

The KTH pump lube systems are being supplied to site starting in June 2010 and have been custom designed as an integral part of the pump package being provided by Sulzer UK to the main infrastructure project contractor ABB Group.

“From a position as a sub-contractor supplying components we are now finding ourselves as an integral member of the project team on jobs such as El Merk,” explains managing director Richard Ellis.

“Our clients rely on our in-depth knowledge and understanding of the industry specifications and operational requirements involved. They also appreciate that by involving our design team from the quotation and planning stages they can save a great deal of time, effort and cost in manufacturing and project management later in the day.

Through our work with major OEMs we are now recognised as a centre of expertise for pump lube and seal system design and manufacture throughout the global oil and gas industry.”