LNG: pistons displace turbines in Oman
17 October 2018MAN Energy Solutions has won an order from Oman Liquefied Natural Gas LLC to equip a new power plant with nine MAN 51/60 gas engines. The contract was signed in June by Wayne Jones, chief sales officer of MAN Energy Solutions, and Harib Al Kitani, chief executive officer of Oman LNG, in the presence of H.E. Dr Mohammed Bin Hamed Al Rumhy, minister of oil & gas. The power plant will be located in Qalhat, southeast of Muscat on the Gulf of Oman, and will provide 120 MW of power to the existing LNG facility of Oman LNG. It will replace an existing gas turbine plant.
“The new power plant needs to be capable of using a variety of differing gas compositions and methane numbers with limited gas conditioning or blending”, said Wayne Jones. “To master this, we have developed control strategies to ensure that the engines adapt to the prevailing gas configuration in real time for optimum performance.”
As fuel, the new plant uses gases derived from the liquefaction process, which can contain high inert components and, therefore, may have much lower calorific values. Thanks to their customised design, the engines will nevertheless be able to provide the required power, even at ambient temperatures of up to 48°C, MAN says.
Hajo Hoops, senior sales manager at MAN Energy Solutions, said: “This market segment has been completely dominated by gas turbines in the past, so this is a pioneering installation. We are thankful to Oman LNG for giving us the opportunity to show our MAN 51/60 gas engine is the ideal fit for this application.”
Hoops continued: “Compared to the existing plant, our engines will significantly reduce fuel consumption and GHG emissions of Oman LNG’s power plant , while our modular-design approach guarantees top-of-the-line overall availability.”
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