Iraqi state-firm Basrah Oil Company (BOC) is replacing a gas-fired turbine compressor at its PS-1 pumping station on a key internal crude oil pipeline. The new unit, manufactured by US company Solar Turbines, has a 6,100 m3/h boosting capacity which should allow it to handle some 750,000 b/d of crude oil.
PS-1 should house five such units but two are non-operational. Flows from the three turbines are already constrained below 2mn b/d due to delayed maintenance according to Hashim Abdulkhaleq of BOC’s mechanical department. As such the immediate gains to effective overall capacity from the new turbine are likely to be minimal, though it should lead to greater reliability. (CONTINUED - 185 WORDS)