Frame Agreement with Statoil including delivery of Dynamic Simulator for Kårstø Expansion Project (KEP 2005)
25 November 2003
Sandvika, Norway, November 20, 2003
Frame Agreement with Statoil including delivery of Dynamic Simulator for Kårstø Expansion Project (KEP 2005)
Statoil has signed a frame agreement with Fantoft headquarters in Norway for dynamic simulation software and services, based on Fantoft’s unique D-SPICE Simulator technology. Statoil has entered the frame agreement on behalf of Gassco AS, which is the operator for Gassled – the partnership that owns the Kårstø gas processing plant. The frame agreement has a three-year duration with options for further extensions.
“Statoil has selected Fantoft as the main supplier of dynamic simulation technology and services for the coming years, which makes us proud”, informs Knut Erik Spilling, head of sales in Fantoft. “D-SPICE is proven to be the market-leading dynamic simulator regard to quality and flexibility to handle the customers specific requirements. Delivery of the Kårstø simulator is the first challenge for our motivated engineers being executed under this frame agreement”.
As a part of the frame agreement Fantoft will supply the Dynamic Simulator for the Kårstø Expansion Project (KEP 2005).
The Kårstø processing complex north of Stavanger is Europe's biggest export port for natural gas liquids (NGL) and the third largest in the world.
The D-SPICE simulator model will include the whole Kårstø gas processing plant and will be used for:
-Design improvement and verification as well as operational procedures
-Checkout of control systems
-Operator training and competence-building
-Test-bed for advanced control applications and plant optimisation
What makes the Kårstø facility unique is its high output of natural gas liquids (NGL), which are extracted from rich gas arriving at the complex through the Statpipe and Åsgard Transport pipelines.
By adjusting pressure and temperature, the heaviest components in the gas are removed and fractionated into separate products – ethane, propane, iso and normal butanes and naphtha.
These are cooled to liquefy them and stored in large tanks before being exported by specialised ships to markets worldwide.
The lightest gases – virtually all methane – are piped as sales (lean) gas to continental Europe or the UK.
Put simply, the Kårstø facility can be compared to a giant dairy where the cream – NGL – is skimmed from the milk, or rich gas. The "skimmed milk" – sales gas – is piped to market, leaving the "cream" to be shipped to customers all over the world.
