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Rolls-Royce upgrades for West-East gas pipeline

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-06-12 14:44

A new gas turbine compression set and compressor upgrade, scheduled to be operational by the end of 2009, will increase the number of Rolls-Royce RB211 gas turbine compressor packages on China's West-East Gas Pipeline Project (WEPP) to 16.

PetroChina West-East Pipeline Company awarded the contract for a third industrial RB211 gas turbine compression package at the Lunnan compressor station 1 earlier this year.

It includes upgrading two Rolls-Royce RFBB-36 gas compressors already operating at the 3,900 kilometers/2,400 mile line from the West Gobi desert to Shanghai.

The WEPP pipeline extends from the Tarim basin across ten provinces and at its capacity of 17 billion cubic meters per year it delivers enough gas to satisfy the needs of more than 200 million people.

"We are very proud of our performance on the WEPP project, with all our equipment having been delivered on time, to schedule and on budget," said Tom Curley, president of the Rolls-Royce energy business, adding this additional order confirms the confidence PetroChina has in Rolls-Royce and their equipment.

Rolls-Royce announced the original order for 12 RB211 gas turbine compressor packages and five variable speed motor-driven compressor sets for Phase I of the project in February 2004.

Three more RB211 gas turbine compressor packages and seven compressor upgrades were ordered in September 2005.

All 15 RB211 packages, five variable speed motor-driven compressor sets and seven compressor upgrades are operating successfully on the pipeline, where total Rolls-Royce operating experience now exceeds 160,000 hours, with one engine recording over 16,000 hours.