NAM - Groningen Long Term Project GLT

Renovation of the slochteren gas field. installation of gas compression, process control and information processing of 29 gas treatment facilities for nam (a shell/exxon jv).

When the Groningen Gas field was discovered in The Netherlands in 1959, the reservoir contained 2,874 Billion cubic meters of gas, the fourth largest in the world. Until 1986,14 standard size and 15 king size Gas Production Facilities or ‘Clusters’ were built with a total of 300 production wells. After 25 years of production of 1,440 billion m3, NAM decided to upgrade the 29 clusters. The Groningen Long Term project comprises the renovation of 29 clusters, installation of a 23MW compression train per cluster, the business and process automation and the maintenance of the renovated clusters.

The renovated clusters, the two Underground Gas Storage Peak Shaving facilities and transfer stations will be fully integrated and automatically controlled from one remote control room in Sappemeer. For this project, NAM prepared the Basis for Design and organized a Design Competition for which three

Consortia were selected. After a design competition of 6 months the Stork GLT Consortium was selected on the basis of the project and maintenance execution plan, the overall quality of the process design and the lowest Total Cost of Ownership. The Stork GLT Consortium consists of Stork (Construction and Maintenance Contractor), Jacobs (Engineering Contractor), Siemens (supply of the 23MW Variable Speed Drive Systems), Yokogawa (supply of DCS and Safeguarding Systems), and Siemens Demag Delaval (supply of the centrifugal compressors with magnetic bearings), jointly responsible for the integrated project execution: design, procurement, construction and 25 years of maintenance.

13 gas production Clusters are renovated and operational; 16 Clusters are still to be done. Construction on three Clusters is well underway. Design activities for the next two Clusters and the next Standard Size Clusters with Satellites, are proceeding as planned.

For business automation purposes an Information Management System has been implemented to control and maintain all relevant data during the 25 year contract period. This system enables achievement of the highest repeatability benefits during the long term project. Stork GLT has established a joint office with the NAM project team in Sappemeer. The advantage of this project setup is the close relation between the consortium partners and the client. T

The implementation of integrated work processes facilitates the strategic application of best practices/lessons learned, the right metrics, and innovations from all partners, which drives predicatable outcome and cost savings. This resulted in a partnership that acts like a single organization. As an example, besides renovation, the consortium also executes all maintenance activities on the already renovated clusters. This means that, as the design responsible party, we receive a lot of useful feedback from Construction, Maintenance and Operations which provides the opportunity for us to continuously improve our designs. On the other hand we keep the design as ‘generic’ as possible, thus increasing the benefits of repetitive work

“The Stork team is a true partner in the Stork GLT consortium, executing the renovation and maintenance of the Groningen Long-Term Project. The consortium continues to produce improving results on safety, cost, quality and schedule. Also, the consortium delivered the latest cluster with “zero punch list items” which resulted in a record start-up time. This really exceeded the expectations of NAM as well as my personal expectations. “

Henk Niezen, Project Manager GLT NAM The Netherlands

Key Features

• Basic Engineering, Design, Procurement, Construction, Commissioning & Start-Up, Maintenance for 29 king size Clusters
• Working locally and fully integrated within Stork GL T
• Gas compressors • Information processing
• Number of staff: approximately 200, consisting of Project Services, Engineering, Construction, Maintenance, Procurement and IM/IT

Project cost: US $ 1,75 Billion (25 years)
US $ 50 Million (first cluster)

Duration: May 1997 - December 2022

Workhours​: Workhours 10,000/Month

Scope of services: D-EPC-M