DATUM Centrifugal Compressor Line Sees Continuing Improvement

Energy conversion technology has played a major role in the oil and gas industry for more than a century, and Dresser-Rand is an industry leader in designing, manufacturing and servicing centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, gas and steam turbines, expanders, rotating separators and control systems.

Since the early 1900s the company has built centrifugal compressors for applications as diverse and challenging as air, gas transmission, LNG, ethylene, refining, ammonia, gas production and gas reinjection for enhanced oil production.

One of D-R’s most significant technological advancements - the DATUM® centrifugal compressor - came nearly 15 years ago, and marked the beginning of a new era in compression solutions. Since the first offering, the DATUM D-16 unit, the product line has evolved to demonstrate superior efficiency, reduced emissions and the lowest life-cycle cost.

One of the most recent projects includes supplying six DATUM D14 centrifugal compressor packages driven by 52 MW gas turbines for Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline. Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, is managing construction of a booster compression station in the 750-mile (1,200-km) pipeline project. As a new leg of an existing network, the Nord Stream pipeline will extend under the Baltic Sea from eastern Siberia to Germany and transport an estimated 55 billion cubic meters per year (Bcm/yr) of natural gas upon completion in 2012.

A similar application was completed in 2006 when the company provided DATUM centrifugal compression technology as part of the nearly $3.5 billion Dolphin Gas Project in the Middle East. Six DATUM units were installed with mechanical drive industrial dry low emission gas turbines to provide 2 Bcf/d through a nearly 250-mile (400-km) underwater pipeline from Ras Laffan, Qatar, to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

DATUM Model D14R6B centrifugal compressor destined for export gas service in the Middle East.

The upstream facilities were developed to extract wet gas from Qatar’s northern offshore oilfields and transport it through a pipeline to Ras Laffan. Once there, natural gas liquid (NGL) products and condensate would be stripped and the remaining dry gas compressed and transported along the sub-sea pipeline to the United Arab Emirates. The project is expected to supply natural gas to the region for the next 25 years.

To date, Dresser-Rand has sold more than 700 DATUM units for various applications worldwide. “The secret to the DATUM line’s success, and the reason for its growth globally, is flexibility,” said Jesus Pacheco, executive vice president New Equipment Sales Worldwide. “It doesn’t matter if the application requires moderate pressure or high pressure; the DATUM line can accommodate a 3,000 psi (207 bar) project just as well as an 1,800 psi (124 bar) project.”

The MEDGAZ sub-sea pipeline is one recent example of a DATUM pipeline compressor installation. The company supplied three high-efficiency DATUM compressor trains for the 130-mile (210 km) pipeline, planned to transport natural gas beneath the Mediterranean Sea from Beni Saf, Algeria, to Almeria, Spain.

The pipeline connects to the Albacete pipeline in Spain and is expected to transport an initial capacity of 8 Bcm of natural gas to European markets. The DATUM compressors raise the pressure from Algeria's Hassi R'Mel natural gas field and supply the front-end gas boosting necessary to transport the natural gas via the underwater pipeline.