$37m
boost to Trinidad Phoenix Park Gas
By Driselle Ramjohn
The Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com 02 05 06
Prime Minister Patrick Manning, right, congratulates PPGPL chairman,
Keith Awong at the Fractionation three project launch. Photo:
ANISTO ALVES
PHOENIX
PARK Gas Processors Ltd, (PPGPL) recently completed its latest
growth project, the Fractionation Expansion Three Project, a
$37 million venture.
Eugene
Tiah, president, PPGPL said, "The Fractionation three project,
as we call it, adds another 24, 000 barrels a day to our fractionation
capacity, taking it to 70,000 barrels a day."
He
was speaking at the Fractionation Three Dedication ceremony
last week at Hotel Marriott in Port of Spain.
"This
project was driven by an agreement with Atlantic LNG Train four
to transport, fractionate, store and market liquids up to 12,000
barrels per day from the natural gas stream. It affords fractionation
capacity for the natural gas liquids that are expected from
further expansion of our processing facilities to meet the gas
processing needs of the Point Lisas Industrial Estate and the
Union Industrial Estate," he added.
Prime
Minister Patrick Manning, who gave the feature address at the
ceremony said,
"The
company takes one step further in increasing its capacity to
70,000 barrels a day and one step further in its contribution
to the economic and social life of Trinidad and Tobago."
The
Prime Minister added that the Government was determined to make
the country a modern industrial state and they are been trying
to attract different industries to the country.
He
said that five more industrial estates are being constructed
to house these industries and the downstream industries that
will develop.
Manning
added that the Government is also actively pursuing a local
plastics industry and the extraction of ethane from gas.
Continued
development into the energy sector is in keeping with the Government
2020 Vision, Manning said.
Keith
Awong, chairman, PPGPL, said, "Over the years PPGPL has
successfully completed six major growth projects between 1994
and 2005. The Fractionation Storage and Expansion Project Two
completed in 2004 increased fractionation capacity from 33,500
bpd to 46,000 bpd and natural gas storage from 750,000 barrels
to one million barrels, in order to receive and process the
natural liquid gas from Atlantic LNG Trains two and three."
Now
they have gone a step further.
The
project implementation team for 'Frac 3', as it is commonly
called, consists of nine people responsible for managing engineering,
procurement and construction including six Trinidadian nationals,
three of whom were PPGPL employees.
Tiah
said, "The team faced many challenges both in the engineering
and construction phase but was un-wavering in its commitment
to deliver the facility which we expect will be upper quartile
in operational efficiency when benchmarked next year against
international companies in the Caps Gemini. Formerly Ernst And
Young, International Gas processing and fractionation survey."
Over
740,000 man-hours were worked on the project without a single
recorded incident.
Tiah
said safety has always been a foremost priority at PPGPL.
"Local
value added is always in the upper echelons of our minds. At
the onset we set ourselves a goal to deliver a world class project
while at the same time maximizing local content," Tiah
said.
He
added, "Not only were we able to develop additional project
implementation expertise, we were also able to achieve about
31 per cent local content on the overall capital expenditure."
The
PPGPL president added that this project will produce enormous
advantages in terms of economies of scale and scope and boosts
international competitiveness thereby maximizing the value of
the country's natural gas liquids and returning excellent dividends
to its shareholders and substantial tax payments to the treasury.
He
added that it also positions Phoenix Park to help spawn a myriad
number of downstream industries based on natural gas liquids.
