The first ADNOC gas processing plant at Habshan was built in 1983 at Bab oil and gas field, to process sour gas from Thamama-C reservoir wells. The plant went through several expansion projects (debottlenecking in 1989, followed by OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), thereby increasing its gas processing capacity rates to make it one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. Habshan Plant currently has a total of eight gas processing trains and two gas injection trains with a feed gas capacity of 3,500 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD). The plant produces network gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), condensate and sulphur.
The Bab Plant is located across the road from ADCO Crude Degassing Plant, five kilometres from Habshan plant. This single train NGL extraction plant was started up in 1981; it was de-bottlenecked to increase its capacity up to 150 MMSCFD in 1989. Due to the immediate proximity of the two plants, Habshan and Bab were grouped into one single entity in 2001 for operating the entire Habshan-Bab Gas Complex under a single management.
Habshan Gas Plant
The original Habshan Gas Plant was built in 1983. After completion of several major development projects (OGD-I in 1996; OGD-II in 2001), the Habshan plant now includes eight gas processing trains with the capacity to process 3.5 BSCFD of non-associated and associated gas.
Part of the gas from the Habshan Plant is delivered to consumers through a gas distribution network covering the entire emirate and extending to Dubai. The uninterrupted supply of network gas is critical for the generation of electricity and for water desalination operations for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This is also essential for the supply of gas to many industries in Abu Dhabi, including the TAKREER (Abu Dhabi Refining Company) refineries, the Borouge petrochemical plant and for the FERTIL plant. The constant and reliable supply of gas is also crucial for Dubai (Jebel Ali Power Station). Another major gas utilization is its re-injection into the oil and condensate gas reservoirs for pressure maintenance purposes.
In addition to network gas, the Habshan Plant produces Natural Gas Liquids (NGL), condensate and liquid sulphur. NGL (about 6800 tons per day) is transferred to the GASCO Ruwais plant where it is fractionated into ethane (C2), propane (C3), butane (C4) and pentane plus (C5+) products, while condensate (about 142,000 barrels per day) is piped to the TAKREER refineries. About 4800 tons per day of liquid sulphur isalso produced, as a by-product of the processing of acid l gas. Liquid sulphur is trucked to Ruwais TAKREER facilities, where it is granulated and exported.
Two major developments are in progress at Habshan, planned for completion during early 2008: the OGD-III project will add two condensate gas processing trains of a total capacity of 1.3 BSCFD, while the Habshan Gas Complex Expansion project encompasses additional sulphur processing capacity, and one new versatile associated / non-associated gas processing train of a capacity of 350 MMSCFD. The total Habshan processing capacity will then exceed 5 BSCFD.
Bab Gas Plant
The Bab Plant, along with the Asab, Bu Hasa and Ruwais Plants, is one of GASCO's original plants. Commissioned in 1981, it has a single NGL extraction train processing 150 MMSCFD of associated gas collected from ADCO's operations in the neighboring oil field. Unlike other GASCO NGL Extraction Plants at Asab and Bu Hasa, Bab has sour gas treating facilities using Di-Glycol Amine (DGA) solvent and acid gas recovery system. Acid gas is piped to neighboring Habshan Gas Plant for converting in to liquid sulphur. The produced NGL is piped to GASCO Ruwais fractionation plant, while the residual gas is compressed and injected into the network after sweetening.
The Asab and Bab Integrated Control System (ABICS) is an ongoing project which will involve the installation of advanced computerized systems to replace the original pneumatic control systems currently in service at Bab with a target completion by mid 2007.