Noble Offshore’s gas processing services are applied in the natural gas and energy industries and are used on offshore and onshore gas production facilities, onshore gas terminals, LNG facilities, underground gas storage sites, gasification plants, power generation facilities and carbon capture and storage facilities.The block diagram illustrates the unit operations on a gas plant. The requirement for a particular unit will be dependant on the gas composition, the type of facility and the product specifications. The gas processing stages purify the produced gas by removing contaminants.The ancillary processes include cryogenic processing, liquids handling and sulphur recovery that may also be included on the plant. In the case of liquefaction, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is produced which can be exported by ship to the market. LNG may need to undergo quality correction at the import terminal to meet the local gas network specifications.

Overall Service Offerings

Noble Offshore has been involved in gas processing for over 35 years and has capabilities in all of the major gas processing unit operations:

• Adsorption
• Solid Bed Absorption (hydrogen sulphide and mercury removal)
• Acid Gas Removal
• Glycol Dehydration
• Low Temperature Separation (dewpointing)
• Gas Quality Correction (nitrogen ballasting and LPG injection)
• Scavengers (sulphur species removal)
• Scrubbing Systems

We also have capabilities in the major ancillary processes on gas plants:

• Fractionation (condensate stabilisation and methanol recovery)
• Glycol Reclamation
• Cryogenic Processing (liquefaction and nitrogen rejection)
• Condensate Sweetening
• Sulphur Recovery (redox processes)

We offer a wide range of gas processing services and these apply to new developments and operating plants:

• Process Screening
• Feasibility Design
• Conceptual Design
• Design Review
• Bid Evaluation
• Performance Assessment
• Optimisation
• Debottlenecking
• Troubleshooting
• Operational Support

New Plant Development Services

Noble Offshore are experienced in performing pre-FEED services on natural gas processing plants. We have completed many pre-FEED projects including:

• Process Screening – a techno-economic evaluation of the process options available to determine the optimal process for the application
• Feasibility Design – evaluation of the processes selected to ensure that they are suitable to perform the required duty and meet the product specifications.
• Conceptual Design – pre-FEED engineering to determine the high level plant design requirements to enable projects to move towards sanction.

Where conceptual or FEED studies have been performed for a natural gas processing plant, Noble Offshore provide a Design Review service where we provide due diligence through our expertise to highlight any potential issues. Where a development involves an Invitation to Tender package, Noble Offshore provide a review of the Tender documentation and also assist with the evaluation of the bids.

Operational Plant Services

Noble Offshore has experience on operational natural gas processing plants. We have completed many projects on behalf of our clients to improve the performance of their facilities. These include:

• Performance Assessment – data collection on the operational plant and comparison with ideal performance as shown by process simulation. For plants that use consumables, this allows scheduling of replacements to maximise plant availability.
• Optimisation – process modelling of the plant to identify where improvements can be made. After implementation, the improvements are then evaluated to ensure the optimisation has been achieved.
• Debottlenecking – services are performed where plant throughput is to be increased to achieve capacity increase or to recover from under performance. This involves identification of the components causing a restriction and proposing a solution to alleviate this.
• Troubleshooting – services are used where there are operational issues that are affecting production rate, product specification or equipment issues. This involves identification of the problem and evaluating solutions to remove it.

Noble Offshore are also able to provide other Operational Support such as expertise during changeout of beds, representing the site in discussions with suppliers and gas analyser issues.

General Studies

Noble Offshore also use their gas processing expertise to perform general studies for the industry. Previous studies have included reviews of new technologies, current status of gas processing topics and the impact of market changes on plants.