Commissioning the Heating and

Cooling Systems on an FPSO

(Floating Production Storage and
Offloading facility)

Cyril ADOLPHE

Master of Science Thesis

KTH School of Industrial Engineering and Management
Energy Technology EGI-2015-070MSC EKV1107
Division of Heat & Power
SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
 Master of Science Thesis EGI-2015-070MSC
EKV1107

Commissioning the Heating and Cooling

Systems on an FPSO (Floating Production
Storage and Offloading facility)

Cyril Adolphe
Approved Examiner Supervisor at KTH

2015-08-25 Miroslav Petrov - KTH/ITM/EGI Miroslav Petrov

Commissioner Contact person at industry

ACTEMIUM (VINCI ENERGIES) Thomas Seligmann

Abstract
The project under discussion is the FPSO Ichthys. The FPSO is a ship comprising the offshore
production facility for an oil&gas field, financed by INPEX/Total. An oil platform extracts the product
received via the flexible risers and separates it into gas and condensate. The condensate is transferred to
the FPSO, which processes it, and separates it between natural gas and oil. The oil is stored in the FPSO
and then exported via a tanker. The gas is transferred via a pipeline.
An FPSO is a complex installation in many respects. It is a condensate treatment factory, installed on a
450-metre-long ship. It should have the capacity to store one week’s condensate production. The FPSO is
self-sufficient in terms of energy production (electricity, heating and cooling). Owing to the proximity of
the hazardous production area to the living quarters, strict safety regulations are applied. For instance, all
equipment has to be designed with redundancy (2x50% or 3x33% for critical equipment); the heating and
cooling systems are managed with the help of emergency logic diagrams. These enable vital functions to
be maintained even in cases of extreme failure.
Despite its complexity, the FPSO has to be constructed within a short period of time. However, safety
issues are important, and maintenance of defective equipment is expensive since the ship will be located
300km away from the coast. This is the reason why the constructor contracted Actemium, a part of
VINCI Energies. Actemium commissions the FPSO. The commissioning mission has to prove that the
systems function in accordance with the designs. Commissioning occurs right after the pre-commissioning
(de-energized verifications). Commissioning is divided into three main activities: functional tests (which
prove that individual pieces of equipment work in accordance with the designs); operational tests (which
prove that all subsystems work in accordance with the designs of different modes); and piping and vessels
pressurization (which prove that there is no leak).
This master thesis describes the requirements of such projects and focuses on the operational tests. A
description of the installation is detailed. Secondly, the subcontractor for the commissioning of the
project, Actemium, and the method used for the commissioning are presented thereafter. Finally, the
operational test procedures of the cooling and heating systems are examined in detail.
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1
2 PROJECT BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 2
2.1 Ichthys Project ............................................................................................................................................. 2
2.2 Ichthys FPSO .............................................................................................................................................. 2
2.2.1 General description ........................................................................................................................... 2
2.2.2 Heating and cooling requirements .................................................................................................. 3
2.3 Annex Installations ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2.3.1 Subsea .................................................................................................................................................. 4
2.3.2 CPF ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3.3 Gas Export Pipeline .......................................................................................................................... 6
2.3.4 LNG Plant........................................................................................................................................... 6
3 THE COMPANIES ............................................................................................................................................ 7
3.1 Client ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Constructor .................................................................................................................................................. 7
3.3 Main equipment vendors ........................................................................................................................... 8
3.4 Sub-contractor for the Commissioning ................................................................................................... 8
3.5 Certification Company ............................................................................................................................... 8
4 THE INSTALLATION ..................................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Base of design .............................................................................................................................................. 9
4.2 Description of the System .......................................................................................................................11
4.2.1 Cooling Medium System .................................................................................................................11
4.2.2 Heating medium system..................................................................................................................12
5 METHODOLOGY OF THE COMMISSIONING ..................................................................................17
5.1 Methodology OPERCOMTM and ICAPS© .........................................................................................17
5.2 Project Organization.................................................................................................................................17
5.3 Pre-commissioning Activities..................................................................................................................18
5.4 “Commissioning” activities .....................................................................................................................20
5.5 Start-up Activities......................................................................................................................................21
5.6 Engineering Documents ..........................................................................................................................22
5.7 Commissioning: Onshore and Offshore ...............................................................................................23
6 HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL TEST PROCEDURES .......................24
6.1 General Planning .......................................................................................................................................24
6.2 Cooling System ..........................................................................................................................................24
6.2.1 Activity completion .........................................................................................................................24
6.2.2 Pre-requirement of the OTP for the cooling medium system .................................................24

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 6.2.3 Control Philosophy..........................................................................................................................26
6.2.4 Post-operational Test ......................................................................................................................30
6.3 Heating System ..........................................................................................................................................30
6.3.1 Activity completion .........................................................................................................................30
6.3.2 Pre-requirement of the OTP for the heating medium system..................................................30
6.3.3 Control Philosophy..........................................................................................................................31
6.3.4 Post-operational Test ......................................................................................................................45
7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................46
REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................................................47
APPENDIX 1..............................................................................................................................................................48
APPENDIX 2..............................................................................................................................................................49
APPENDIX 3..............................................................................................................................................................50

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Schematic of the Ichthys LNG project ..................................................................................................... 2
Figure 2: 3D model of the FPSO ............................................................................................................................... 3
Figure 3: 3D-exploded view of the FPSO with the area of concern .................................................................... 4
Figure 4: 3D model of the Ichthys CPF .................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 5: Localization of the Ichthys FPSO, CPF and the LNG facility connected by pipeline ..................... 6
Figure 6: 3D Plan of the DMSE yard ........................................................................................................................ 7
Figure 7: Comparison between normal project and a project under the OPERCOM philosophy ...............18
Figure 8: Summary of the pre-commissioning activity ..........................................................................................19
Figure 9: Summary of the commission activity ......................................................................................................21
Figure 10: Seawater required capacity for operational tests..................................................................................25
Figure 11: Sketch of the cooling medium expansion drum and pumps .............................................................27
Figure 12: Sketch of the seawater/cooling medium exchangers .........................................................................29
Figure 13: Sketch of heating medium expansion drum.........................................................................................32
Figure 14: Split range details of the controller S-640-PIC-009 ............................................................................33
Figure 15: Sketch of heating medium pumps .........................................................................................................34
Figure 16: Sketch of heating medium WHRUs ......................................................................................................36
Figure 17: Flow valve controler ................................................................................................................................37
Figure 18: Sketch of distribution of the primary heating medium circuit ..........................................................38
Figure 19: Split range details of the controller S-640-TIC-158 ............................................................................39
Figure 20: Schematic of the heating medium gas-fired heaters ...........................................................................41
Figure 21: Schematic of the heating medium circulation for the offshore phase of commissioning ............43
Figure 22: Primary and secondary circuit heating medium temperature during heaters test ..........................44

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Abbreviations

ACTEMIUM The sub-contractor for the Commissioning on this project

CPF Central Processing Facility
DSME The constructor on this project
EPCC Engineering Procurement Construction Commissioning
FPSO Floating Production Storage and Offloading
HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
GS EP EXP General Specification Exploration & Production
ICAPS© Integrated Commissioning And Progress System
ICHTHYS Name of the Project (offshore oil field)
INPEX Client company
ISV Inlet Surge Vessel
HP Flare High Pressure Flare
LNG Liquefied Natural Gas
LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas
GTG Gas Turbine Generator
MEG Mono Ethylene Glycol
MMscfd Million Metric standard cubic feet per day
TM
OPERCOM TOTAL’s philosophy for Exploration & Production Projects

OTP Operational Test Procedure

PSH High Pressure Switch
PSL Low Pressure Switch
PZHH High High Pressure Trip
PZLL Low Low Pressure Trip
TEG Triethylene glycol
TOTAL Client company
TSP Temperature Set Point
WHRU Waste Heat Recovery Unit
%wt Weight percentage

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I would like to thank Miroslav Petrov for his support and guidance. Our discussions made
this thesis possible.
I am especially grateful to Philippe Davin, Thomas Seligmann, Christian Journet, and Oliver
Mackenzie for their confidence in me.
I would also like to thank my company supervisor Jon Lasaga and my colleagues Ji-Hun Kim,
Barthelemy Hennequin, Carlos Palma, and Aziz Azougagh. Whenever I faced problems, their
patience and comments provided insight. I cannot name all my colleagues, but am grateful for
their enthusiasm and amiability in the office.
Finally, thanks to my family and friends for being close to me always, even when I am on the
other side of the world.

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1 INTRODUCTION
This master thesis was written after completing a double master’s degree in Mechanical and
Energy Transfer from KTH in Stockholm and from Arts & Métiers in Paris - ParisTech.
Working with Actemium on an FPSO project made it possible to put in practice the knowledge
gained through the double degree studies on energy technology and mechanical systems.
The practical working experience that was used for this thesis and the creation of the report took
place at the DSME Yard on Geoje Island, located in South Korea.
The methodology to write this master thesis involved discovering the commissioning activity by
working as a commissioning engineer. In this way, the pros and cons of the commissioning
activities and the possibilities to optimize them were easier to understand.
The thesis focuses on the heating medium and cooling medium systems. The heating medium
system supplies heat for the methylene glycol regeneration package (with a needed temperature of
210°C) and to other systems (with a needed temperature of 115°C). The heat is provided by
recycling the waste heat from the gas turbine generator, which supplies energy to the entire
FPSO, and by some additional fuel gas burners.
The cooling medium system rejects heat to cool down the different appliances such as motors,
HVAC, etc. The cooling system relies on seawater as a heat sink.

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2 PROJECT BACKGROUND
2.1 Ichthys Project
INPEX plans to install offshore a central processing facility (CPF) to develop the Ichthys field.
The majority of the crude oil is transferred from the field through a subsurface transfer line to a
nearby floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility where the condensate will be
treated, stored, and offloaded to tankers for export. Natural gas from the field is sent through an
885-km-long gas export pipeline to the onshore facility at Blaydin Point in Darwin Harbour for
processing of the gas into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Figure 1: Schematic of the Ichthys LNG project

2.2 Ichthys FPSO

2.2.1 General description
There are two main trains in FPSO Ichthys, each capable of handling approximately 422 m3/h or
nominally 50% of the liquid production peak. Liquids reaching the FPSO though the subsea
transfer line are received in the pipe slug catcher. The liquid is then divided equally between the
two production trains. Each production train consists of three stages of three-phase separation:
giving flash gas, condensate, and an aqueous stream.
The flash gas is compressed through a four-stage compression process. It provides gas to the
FPSO, which is used by the gas turbine generators (GTG) to provide electricity to the whole
facility. In the early life of the FPSO, there will be an excess of flash gas (in comparison with the
needs of the GTG), and liquids from the intermediate pressure and medium pressure stages of
compression will be sent back from the FPSO to the CPF via one of the flash gas subsea transfer
lines.

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The condensate passes through three stages of separation. The condensate vapour pressure is
controlled in a heating or cooling process during the final stage so that the condensate can pass
straight from the final separation stage into the FPSO reception tanks. The reception tanks
provide a final separation stage for the condensate. Any remaining rich monoethylene glycol
(MEG) accumulates at the bottom of the tank and can be pumped out separately before the
stabilized condensate is pumped into the cargo tanks. The condensate is transferred to storage at
48°C. The cargo tanks store the condensate at high temperate (38°C to 48°C) to prevent wax
from dropping out. The contents of the cargo tanks are permanently running through heat
exchangers located on the topsides to regain heat lost through the walls of the cargo tanks. The
aqueous stream is called rich MEG (about 50%wt MEG in water). The rich MEG passes through
a MEG regeneration unit, where MEG is recovered and re-concentrated to lean MEG (about
90%wt) for re-use.

Figure 2: 3D model of the FPSO

2.2.2 Heating and cooling requirements

Cooling requirement
The purpose of the cooling medium system is to facilitate cooling at certain stages of the process
and remove excess heat generated by various items of equipment.
Closed loop re-circulating treated fresh water cooling systems is used throughout equipment
packages. Cooling of the fluid medium will be via seawater system heat exchangers.
The cooling medium expansion tank shall be of sufficient capacity to provide a means of safely
venting gas to flare in the event of gas cooler failure.

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Heating requirement
A heating medium system is to be provided as a heat source for use in the gas and liquid
hydrocarbon processing systems.
The system shall provide for:
• A closed loop system in which a suitable heating medium is constantly circulated;
• Heating medium circulation pumps with on line spares to assure power generation
performance can be maintained at all times;
• Installation of a dump cooler to dissipate heat during low process heat demands;
• A side stream filter arrangement to remove suspended particles.
The filter shall be of duplex construction to facilitate safe cleaning online. The design of the
heating medium system will ensure maximum availability. There will be no single point failure
mechanism within the system and all maintenance will be carried out while the system is on line.

Figure 3: 3D-exploded view of the FPSO with the area of concern

2.3 Annex Installations

2.3.1 Subsea
Subsea wells are located in clusters (drill centres). Fluids are transported to the central processing
facility (CPF) from the various drill centres through gas-gathering systems. Each gas-collection
system consists of two flowlines connecting two to three drill centres to the CPF. At the CPF,
each subsea flowline is connected to the topsides flowline with its own flexible production riser.
The lean MEG (90%wt MEG in water) is injected in each well-head choke as an active hydrate
inhibitor. This lean MEG injection results in the fluids arriving to the CPF being a mixture of gas

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condensate, hydrocarbon gas, and a water/MEG mixture (rich MEG). The lean MEG is sent
subsea from the FPSO.

2.3.2 CPF
There are three production trains on the CPF. Each of them has a nominal capacity of 600
MMscfd. Each flowline is connected to two of the three trains, but only one train at the time will
be in line during operation. In normal production, there is basic gas or liquid separation in the
ISV (inlet surge vessel). At the outlet of the ISV, the gas passes thought the high-pressure
separator (which allows liquid drop-out) and then passes to the dehydration inlet scrubber. The
flash gas that comes back from the FPSO is injected at this stage. The gas then passes through
the glycol dehydration column in which the TEG (triethylene glycol) removes the water from the
gas stream. The final stage has the export compressors leading the gas to the LNG plant through
the gas export pipelines. After many years of field exploitation, the operating pressure of the ISV
will be reduced. A booster compression facility will be inserted between the high-pressure
separator and the dehydration inlet scrubber in order to ensure the operating pressure in the
glycol dehydration column.

All the liquids removed during the different stages on the CPF are transferred to the FPSO
through subsea transfer lines. In order to avoid the appearance of wax, the temperature of the
transferred liquid is controlled in the liquid export heat exchanger. The gas or liquid separation in
the ISV depends on the arrival temperatures of the fluids at the CPF. Higher temperatures will
drive more gas out of the liquid, which means a reduction of the liquid flow to the FPSO.
Condensate is transferred from CPF to FPSO via one of the two condensate transfer lines. In
normal operation, only one line is used at one time. However, under certain conditions, one line
is not enough to support the flow rate, and both lines are used.

Figure 4: 3D model of the Ichthys CPF

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2.3.3 Gas Export Pipeline
The dry export gas is fed from the topsides facilities of the CPF to the gas export riser base. The
riser base provides a manifold connection of the four flexible risers and facilities for temporary
connection of a subsea pig launcher. The gas export riser base is connected by rigid pipe to the
gas export pipeline. Gas is exported via a nearly 900 km long pipeline from the CPF to the
onshore LNG facilities located in Blaydin Point (Darwin, Australia). All along the pipeline, there
are hot tap tees and a removable spool for future gas export pipeline tie-ins.

Figure 5: Localization of the Ichthys FPSO, CPF and the LNG facility connected by pipeline

2.3.4 LNG Plant

The facilities onshore at Blaydin Point, Darwin include gas receiving, an LNG process plant (2 x
4.2 Mtpa trains), product storage, and export facilities to LNG tankers. In addition to the
production of LNG for the LNG tankers, other products that are produced and exported will
include LPG and condensate.

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3 THE COMPANIES
3.1 Client
Oil and gas projects no longer have only one client. In order to minimize risk for investment, the
clients are usually joint venture holdings. The Ichthys project (FPSO, CPF, pipeline, LNG plant)
is financed by INPEX (76%) and Total (24%). The client is named INPEX as it invests more. In
this report, the term ‘client’ will be used.
Two major facts result from this joint venture holding. The first is due to Total. Total’s
philosophy, named OPERCOMTM (explained in Section 5.1), is the conception philosophy used
for the Ichthys project. The second fact is that the Ichthys project is based in Australia. This
leads to tougher regulations in design and commissioning.
INPEX Corporation is a global oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered
in Tokyo. INPEX is involved in more than 70 projects in nearly 30 countries. In 2014, INPEX
was ranked 61st in the global energy company ranking (see Platts Top 250).
Total is a global oil and gas exploration, production, and distribution company headquartered in
Paris. It is involved in hundreds of projects in more than 130 countries. In 2014, Total was
ranked eighth in the global energy company ranking (see Platts Top 250)

3.2 Constructor
Founded only 40 years ago, the DSME yard is now one of the top shipbuilding and marine
engineering companies in the world. To give an example of its strength, in 2014, DSME became
the first shipbuilder to receive an order for 49 gas carriers in a single year. The 4,900,000-m2 yard
employs more than 13,000 direct employees and 25,000 subcontracted production employees.
The yard capacity is 55–60 commercial vessels, 16–18 offshore projects, and two to three special
vessels.
From the 1970s to the current date, DSME has succeeded in major projects. DSME constructed
943 commercial ships (LNG and LPG carriers, oil tankers, full containership, etc.), and 439
offshore projects and plants (fixed platforms, FPSO, drillships, semi-submersible rigs, etc.).

Figure 6: 3D Plan of the DMSE yard

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 3.3 Main equipment vendors
Sulzer (Pumps)
Sulzer is an industrial engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Winterthur
(Switzerland). It is one of the world leaders in the diesel pumps market.
LHE (Plate-type Heat Exchangers)
LHE is a local SME (small and medium-sized business) based in Busan (Korea). It produces heat
exchangers for the naval industry.
Alfa Laval (Heaters)
Alfa Laval is an industrial engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Lund
(Sweden). It is a world leader in heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling.
General Electric (WHRU on GTG)
General Electric is a company headquartered in Fairfield (USA). General Electric is a global
leader in the energy sector.

3.4 Sub-contractor for the Commissioning

Actemium is a subsidiary of the group VINCI Energies. It is the brand dedicated to the industrial
process.
The commissioning activity of Actemium focuses on the OPERCOMTM philosophy and the
software ICAPS©. Actemium undertakes the following activities:
• Delimitation of the systems and sub-systems
• Planning of the task, material, and equipment
• Organization of the different teams involved in the project (sub-contractors, suppliers,
certification company)
• Human resources estimation
• Commissioning and pre-commissioning management
• Population of the database in the software ICAPS©
Actemium provides commissioning on the following activities: administration and coordination
ICAPS©, electricity, instrumentation, telecommunication, construction, mechanics, piping, and
command control and process.
The main business sector of the commissioning activity of Actemium is the oil and gas sector
(including exploration, production, refining, transport structure, compression station, and
underground storage). The company is located in Europe (Norway, Spain, Italy, France, etc.),
Africa (Gabon, Congo, Nigeria, etc.), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc.),
Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, etc.), and America (Argentina).

3.5 Certification Company

DNV (Det Norske Veritas) is a Norwegian independent foundation that deals in risk
management. It specializes in the evaluation and inspection of the technical conditions of naval
construction. In this project, DNV is present to ensure that the engineering, construction, and
commissioning is carried out safely and in the most efficient way.

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4 THE INSTALLATION
4.1 Base of design
The installation is designed to produce 1,657 MMscfd (28,317 m3/day). Each day of unavailability
of the installation represents a significant daily shortfall. As the FPSO is located 300 km away
from the nearest point on the Australian coast, the time needed to order, transport and install
specific equipment (motors, heat exchangers, etc.) could stop production for weeks. In order to
prevent any such shortfall, the redundancy philosophy is more exigent than in other industries.
The security on the FPSO is another key point. Any system should be able to run at any time —
even in case of equipment failure or during equipment maintenance. High pressure, high
temperature, high voltage, high mechanical strain and toxic/ explosive/ flammable liquid and gas
represent potential hazards. From the failure of an equipment may result consequential damages.
Sparing and redundancy philosophy is thus based on these two main factors: shortfall and safety.
The following are descriptions of all the equipment of heating and cooling systems, which are the
subject of the sparing and redundancy philosophy. First, the sparing philosophy for each type of
item present in the systems is described. Then, the sparing philosophy is explained for the
instrumentation.
Note: When an item or instrument is indicated to be N+1 spared, it refers to N as the minimum
number of items or instruments required for proper functioning.

Pressure Drums
Pressure drums are not susceptible to mechanical breakdown and as such do not require to be
taken out of service frequently for maintenance or inspection purposes. Full field shutdowns will
occur in year 1 and subsequently at 3 year intervals. The duration of full field shutdowns will vary
depending on whether the shutdown is purely for inspection requirements or for planned
maintenance.
Due to the requirement for total facilities shutdown to permit flare tip inspection and
maintenance, most of the vessels within critical utilities systems are not spared. The cooling
medium and heating medium expansion drums do not require to be spared. They will be
inspected during this full facilities planned shutdown (every 3 years).

Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers

Shell and tube (S&T) heat exchangers are generally not susceptible to mechanical breakdown
although appropriate protection shall be provided to safeguard equipment in the event of tube
failure and cross contamination of fluids. In general, S&T heat exchangers shall not be spared
and are inspected periodically.
However, the 2 x 100% heating medium exchangers (S-640-E-002-A/B) which supply heat to the
secondary heating medium system are critical S&T heat exchangers. They shall be spared for
productions reasons and for operation in fouling service requiring frequent maintenance for
cleaning. For this reason, this heat exchanger is N+1 spared.

Air Cooled Heat Exchangers

Air cooled heat exchangers (ACHE) are susceptible to mechanical breakdown of the motor-
driven fans.

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However, an ACHE can continue to operate on reduced duty if a single fan is lost. ACHE are
not normally spared, unless in a production critical service. The 2 x 100% heating medium dump
coolers (S-640-E-001-A/B) are the only ACHE in a production critical service and are N+1
spared (although these ACHE are not normally in operation, one must always be available to
remove residual heat from the WHRU when required).

Plate Heat Exchangers

Plate heat exchangers (PHE) are prone to leakage through gaskets and are more susceptible to
fouling than S&T heat exchangers. Hence maintenance requirements are generally greater than
for a S&T exchanger. In general, an N+1 sparing configuration shall be used.
PHE are used in heating and cooling medium systems. The FPSO seawater/cooling medium
exchangers (S-650-E-001-A/B/C/D) are 4 x 33%.

Fired Heaters
Fired heaters are susceptible to mechanical breakdown and are generally spared for inspection
and maintenance.
Fired heaters are required to make up the heating medium duty on the FPSO in addition to the
heat supplied by the WHRU (S-640-F-001-A/B/C). Heating medium is a critical service, hence
the fired heaters must have a high level of availability.
The heating medium fired heaters are to be marine ‘D’ type fired heaters. The optimum
configuration for these heaters in terms of plot area, weight, cost and availability has been found
to be 3 x 50% (S-640-A-002-A/B/C).

Initially the heating demand is less and the fired heaters will be a 3x100% installation; after year 5
of field exploitation the configuration will change to 3x50%.

Pumps
All types of pumps are considered to be susceptible to mechanical breakdown and generally shall
have an installed spare. The decision not to install a spare will depend upon the criticality of the
service and whether the pump is in continuous or intermittent operation. In general, pumps shall
be N+1 spared.
The 3 x 50% heating medium circulation pumps (S-640-P-001-A/B/C), the 2 x 100% heating
medium minimum flow pumps (S-640-P-002-A/B), the 2 x 100% secondary heating medium
circulation pumps (S-640-P-010-A/B) and the 3 x 50% cooling medium pumps (S-650-P-001-
A/B/C) are N+1 spared.
The 1 x100% heating medium top-up pump (S-640-P-003) is a specific exception. This pump
only operates occasionally to top up the inventory of heating medium in accordance with the
level in the expansion drum. Therefore a spare pump is not required.

Mechanical Filters
Mechanical filters generally operate in dirty services and require regular maintenance for flushing
of filter elements, replacement of filter cartridges or removal and recharging of filter material.
Filters are normally provided with installed spares to ensure that the process is not interrupted by
the temporary unavailability of the filter.
In heating medium systems – where the temporary loss of a filter does not have a detrimental
effect neither on the process nor on the environmental or safety implications – it can be chosen
not to install a spare filter but to install a filter bypass instead.

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Level gauges and transmitters (instrument)
In general, measuring elements (i.e. pressure, temperature, flow, level) are not required to be
spared. A portion of the instruments are considered as “critical” instruments, where a failure of
the instrument could directly lead to a system shutdown; these critical instruments are to be
spared.
For the pressure and the level in the expansion drum of the cooling and heating systems, two
measuring sensors and transmitters will measure the same process parameter, one for indication,
control and pre-alarming and the other for tripping. Significant disagreement between the two
transmitters (5%) will generate a discrepancy alarm. The level transmitter on the expansion drum
will be spared (2 out of 3 voting).

Relief Valves (instrument)

Spare relief valves shall be installed where it is unacceptable for an item of equipment or system
to be out of service for relief valve maintenance. In general, for every relief valve installation a
spare relief valve shall be provided.

Emergency Shutdown Valves (instrument)

Emergency shutdown valves shall not be spared and shall be tested and maintained within
planned shutdown periods as far as practicable. Annual emergency shutdown valve closure
testing, and bi-annual leak testing will be done. If an emergency shutdown valve is taken out of
service, the associated section of plant will be shut down.

4.2 Description of the System

4.2.1 Cooling Medium System
For a better comprehension of the system, appendix 1 shows the schematic representation of the
cooling medium system and its major components.
The cooling medium system comprises of the following equipment items:
- Cooling medium pumps, S-650-P-001-A/B/C
- Seawater/cooling medium exchangers, S-650-E-001-A/B/C/D
- Cooling medium expansion drum, S-650-V-001
- Chemical injection eductor, S-650-M-001

3 x 50% cooling medium pumps, S-650-P-001-A/B/C, circulate the cooling medium via the 4 x
33% seawater/cooling medium exchangers, S-650-E-001-A/B/C/D. Each of the pumps is rated
for 4146 m3/hr. From the plate exchangers, the cooling medium flows to the users.

Hot cooling medium from the users is collected and returned to the suction of the cooling
medium pumps for recirculation.

The minimum ambient temperature in the Ichthys Field is 19°C and therefore the cooling
medium can be inhibited fresh water. Fresh water will be dosed with inhibitor for the initial
cooling medium system fill. Inhibition may be topped up by directly dosing the cooling medium
expansion drum through the fresh water make-up nozzle, by temporary facilities. Chemical
injection point for corrosion inhibitor and biocide is provided at the cooling medium pump
suction line for batch injection of chemical when required. Biocide and corrosion inhibitor batch
dosage rate is 250ppm and 500-1000ppm respectively.

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The seawater/cooling medium exchangers, each rated for a duty of 74.6 MW, cool the cooling
medium from 60ºC to 34ºC by heat exchanged with seawater. The seawater is supplied at a
maximum temperature of 29ºC and heated to a maximum of 45ºC. The seawater flow is fixed. A
constant cooling medium supply temperature is maintained by means of temperature control
valves on the bypass line which control the cooling medium flow through and around the
seawater/cooling medium exchangers.

Temperature control valves in the cooling medium outlet of each process user maintain the
required process temperature by controlling the cooling medium flow through the cooler.

A bypass line with control valve is provided between the cooling medium supply and return
distribution headers. A pressure differential controller, PDIC-024, detects the high differential
pressure when the cooling medium demand depletes and will send signal to open the flow
control valves to maintain closed loop flow. Dedicated low flow transmitter provided at each
cooling medium pump discharge line will input to FIC-010. A low selector will compare input
from PDIC-024 and FIC-010 and send signal to the flow control valve to ensure minimum flow
of cooling medium pumps.

A cooling medium expansion drum, S-650-V-001, is installed at the highest point of the closed
loop cooling medium circuit to allow for the expansion and contraction of the cooling medium at
every start-up and shutdown. The drum is sized to sufficiently accommodate the required
expansion volume.

Adequate net positive suction head for the cooling medium pumps is ensured by positioning the
cooling medium expansion drum at the highest elevation and by a nitrogen gas blanket to the
drum to maintain an operating pressure of 150 kPag. Any leakage of hydrocarbon gas into the
cooling medium system will migrate to the system high point and be vented from the expansion
drum to the HP Flare. The presence of hydrocarbons will be detected by an analyser on the vent
line. A hydrocarbon analyser on the drum vent line continually monitors vented gas for
hydrocarbon content which may arise from leakage within process coolers. High hydrocarbon
concentration detected in the drum will alert operators.

The cooling medium circuit could experience some liquid losses and occasional make-up of the
cooling medium inventory may be required from the service water system. Fresh water is added
by flexible connection to the expansion drum.

The cooling medium system should be a clean system, however, to promote system cleanliness
the strainer in each cooling medium pump suction line is a permanent installation. Corrosion
inhibitor and biocide will be injected into the cooling medium system when required. Chemical
drums and chemical injection inductor S-650-M-001 are provided for corrosion inhibitor and
biocide injection.

4.2.2 Heating medium system

For a better comprehension of the system, appendices 2 & 3 show the schematic representation
of the heating medium system with its major circuits and components.
The heating medium system comprises a primary and secondary circuit. The primary circuit
provides the high temperatures required for the MEG regeneration package. A lower temperature
secondary circuit is required for the liquid heaters, condensate heaters and cargo heat exchangers
due to the risk of fouling at the higher temperature. The slop tanks heating coils could use the

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primary heating circuit, but use secondary heating medium due to their location (near to the cargo
heat exchangers) so that only one circuit is run to this location.

Both circuits have a pressurised expansion drum located at the highest point of the respective
system, above all equipment in their circuit. Heating medium does not circulate through the
expansion drums and is directly returned back to the pump suction manifolds. The heating
medium return lines for each system are routed via a high point in their respective circuits, near
the pump suction manifolds. The respective expansion drums are connected to the return lines at
this high point to allow for free venting during the initial fill and removal of gaseous components
which may be generated from breakdown of the water treatment chemicals during normal
operation.

Primary Heating Medium Circuit

The primary circuit of the heating medium system comprises the following equipment items:
- Heating medium expansion drum, S-640-V-001
- Heating medium circulation pumps, S-640-P-001-A/B/C
- Heating medium minimum flow pumps, S-640-P-002-A/B
- Waste heat recovery units, S-640-F-001-A/B/C
- Heating medium heater packages, S-640-A-002-A/B/C
- Heating medium dump coolers, S-640-E-001-A/B
- Heating medium exchangers, S-640-E-002-A/B
- Heating medium filter, S-640-S-001

The heating duties of the following equipment are supplied by the primary circuit:
- MEG reboilers within MEG regeneration package, S-730-A-001
- MEG recycle heaters within MEG regeneration package, S-730-A-001
- Rich MEG recycle heaters within MEG regeneration package, S-730-A-001
- Heating medium exchangers, S-640-E-002-A/B

The heating medium expansion drum is operated at a minimum of 2450 kPag to ensure an
adequate margin above the maximum temperature in the circuit to prevent boiling in the WHRUs
or in the additional combustion heaters. This pressure corresponds to a boiling temperature of
225°C (the chemicals inside the heating medium modify the boiling temperature of water),
allowing a margin of 15°C above the maximum bulk fluid temperature of 210°C in the heating
coils / tubes. This pressure is well above the pressure of the low pressure nitrogen distribution
system and so is maintained from bottled nitrogen reserve within the nitrogen cylinder package.

Post start-up there is minimal flow of nitrogen to the expansion drum with a tight regulation of
the heating medium return temperature. For temperature excursions up to 190°C at the heating
medium return header (which can only be precipitated by the sudden trip of at least two MEG
reboilers) and without the benefit of any HP nitrogen make-up, the minimum pressure reached at
the drum is expected to be marginally above the low pressure trip setting. However, if the
primary heating medium circuit continues to cool without the nitrogen make-up, low pressure
trip would eventually be triggered and the heating medium system would be unable to restart,
until the drum blanketing pressure is re-established within the operating range.

Heating medium is circulated around the primary circuit via the heating medium circulation
pumps. Discharge of the pumps is routed to the heating medium heater(s) and WHRU(s) in
operation. All heat sources are operated in parallel. Normal operation will demand two out of
three WHRUs in operation.

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The heat available from the exhaust of the main power generation gas turbines will vary with the
power demands on the FPSO and with the electrical power necessary to be exported to the CPF.

The heating medium heater packages provide the balance of the heating duty for the heating
medium system. A slipstream from the pumps discharge manifold is also routed to the heating
medium filter to remove corrosion particles from the system.

Hot primary heating medium at normal supply temperature of 210°C is collected from the
various heat sources and distributed to the users. The cooled (return line) primary heating
medium is collected from the users and summed into the suction point of the circulating pump.
For heat exchanger design purposes, the return temperature for maximum heat duty under fouled
conditions is 160°C. Actual return temperatures will be lower during operation with clean
exchangers and/or reduced throughput.

A hot bypass line across the supply and return headers is provided to pass the highest flow
evaluated from the following criteria:
• Minimum required flow though a single heating medium heater plus a single WHRU;
• Minimum required flow for one pump of S-640-P-001-A/B/C;
• Rated flow through one pump of S-640-P-002-A/B.

The heating medium minimum flow pumps are powered from the emergency switchboard and
are continuously on standby with auto-start to provide back-up heating medium circulation to the
WHRUs in the event of heating medium circulation pumps stoppage due to a trip or main power
failure, in order to achieve a controlled shutdown and/or to sustain operation of any surviving
main power generation gas turbines (without heat recovery).

Unlike the heating medium heaters, firing of the GTGs may not be stopped upon loss of main
heating medium circulation. The heating medium minimum flow pumps ensure continued supply
of a minimum heating medium flow to the WHRUs to remove residual heat gained from exhaust
gas leaking through the dampers as well as heat from radiative transfer, in order to avoid
exceeding the design temperature of the WHRU coils under pressurized conditions.

During main power failure or start-up of the heating medium system, no consumer is available
for the heat absorbed from the WHRU; therefore the heating medium is routed to one of the
dump coolers whose fans are also on the emergency switchboard, to reject the excess heat to the
ambient air.

The primary heating medium circuit operates at pressures above that of the systems being heated
and therefore exchanger failures will not release hydrocarbons into the heating medium circuit.
Hydrocarbon detectors are therefore not provided for the primary circuit.

A corrosion probe, a corrosion coupon and a sample point are provided in the common heating
medium circulation pump discharge header. A separate sampling point is also provided at the
common inlet line to the shell side of the heating medium exchangers.

Secondary Circuit

The secondary circuit of the heating medium system comprises the following equipment items:
- Secondary heating medium expansion drum, S-640-V-010
- Secondary heating medium circulation pumps, S-640-P-010-A/B
- Heating medium exchangers, S-640-E-002-A/B

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 - Secondary heating medium filter, S-640-S-010
- The heating duties of the following equipment are supplied by the secondary circuit:
- Liquid heater – train 1, S-211-E-001
- Liquid heater – train 2, S-212-E-001
- Condensate heaters – train 1, S-221-E-002-A/B
- Condensate heaters – train 2, S-222-E-002-A/B
- Cargo heat exchangers, S-241-E-001-A/B
- Heating coils in slop tanks, S-905-T-001 / 002 / 003

The secondary heating medium expansion drum is operated at a minimum of 240 kPag to ensure
an adequate margin above the maximum temperature in the circuit to prevent boiling in the
heating medium exchangers as well as to utilise the excess margin between operating and design
pressure to improve the available net positive suction head in order to extend the life of the
secondary heating medium circulation pumps. This pressure corresponds to a boiling
temperature of 138°C (the chemicals inside the cooling medium change the boiling temperature
of water), allowing a margin of 23°C above the maximum bulk fluid temperature of 115°C in the
heating medium exchangers and provides a margin of 100% above the required net positive
suction head. The nitrogen required for blanketing this drum is supplied from the low pressure
nitrogen distribution system.

Heating medium is circulated via secondary heating medium circulation pumps. Discharge of the
pumps is routed to the heating medium exchangers. There are no minimum flow pumps for the
secondary circuit as the heating medium exchangers, being the only heat source, are non-fired
heat exchangers and the colder tube side has been fully designed to withstand the design
temperature of the hotter shell side. A slipstream from the main heating medium flow is routed
to the secondary heating medium filter to remove corrosion products.

Hot secondary heating medium at normal supply temperature of 115°C is supplied to the users.
The cooled secondary heating medium is collected from the users and returned to the pump
suction. For heat exchanger design, the return temperature for maximum heat duty under fouled
conditions is 95°C for the condensate heaters and liquid heaters and 90°C for the users in the
hull, giving an average return temperature of 94°C. Actual return temperatures will be lower
during operation with clean exchangers and/or reduced throughput.

The secondary heating medium circuit operates at a pressure lower than the liquid heaters. In
case of tube rupture, hydrocarbons will be released into the heating medium circuit. Therefore, a
hydrocarbon detector is provided for the secondary circuit at the secondary heating medium
expansion drum.

A corrosion probe, a corrosion coupon and a sample point are provided in the common
secondary heating medium circulation pump discharge header. A corrosion probe and a sampling
point are also provided at the common outlet line from the tube side of the heating medium
exchangers.

Top-up facilities

The top-up facilities for the heating medium system (primary and secondary) comprise the
following equipment:
- Heating medium top-up tank, S-640-T-001
- Heating medium top-up pump, S-640-P-003

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The heating medium top-up tank is an atmospheric tank. A connection is provided for filling the
tank from the fresh water system. A DN300 diameter chemical measuring pot is provided to
facilitate measurement of small chemical dosages involved during the routine top-up of corrosion
inhibitor and oxygen scavenger, as well as contingent administration of scale inhibitor, in the
event of hardness excursion in the fresh water supply. Topping up with make-up water and the
addition of any chemicals are operated manually, with monitoring from liquid level
instrumentation mounted near the operated valves, as well as from the control room.

Both primary and secondary circuits are topped up from the same tank and pump. The heating
medium top-up pump suction is permanently connected to the heating medium top-up tank. The
pump is a positive displacement type pump to suit the high pressure of the primary heating
medium circuit. There is a hard-piped connection to both heating medium circuits.

Make-up water and top-up chemicals are added to the circuit at the circulation pump suction
headers. A recirculation / mixing line is provided downstream of the pump discharge header on
each circuit and routed into the expansion drum. It shall be opened manually for a short period
of time after the addition of chemicals to allow the content of the drums to be homogenized with
the circulation loop.

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5 METHODOLOGY OF THE COMMISSIONING
Actemium has worked on many projects with Total. As this project is co-financed by Total and
INPEX, the OPERCOMTM philosophy and its associated software ICAPS© have been used and
are therefore described here.

5.1 Methodology OPERCOMTM and ICAPS©

The OPERCOMTM philosophy was set up by Total in order to optimize - in terms of delay,
quality, and security - the transfer of a hydrocarbon exploitation structure from the construction
team to the exploitation team. OPERCOMTM is composed of many specifications that summarize
Total’s conception of the commissioning activity. The goal is to define and prioritize the different
installation activities, check and test all the equipment, and ensure traceability of these activities.
These four specifications, which are applicable to all of Total’s projects, are the following:
• GS EP EXP 101: ‘Pre-commissioning and Commissioning Specification’. It defines how
to successfully complete the pre-commissioning and commissioning activities. It explains
the main definitions and characteristics of the tasks composing these activities.
• GS EP EXP 103: ‘Pre-commissioning and Commissioning Technical Preparation’. It
details, in particular, the different documents to be produced for preparation of the pre-
commissioning and commissioning activities.
• GS EP EXP 105: ‘Pre-commissioning Execution’. It provides the information,
procedures, and necessary support for the execution of the pre-commissioning.
• GS EP EXP 107: ‘Commissioning Execution’. It provides the information, procedures,
and necessary support for the execution of the commissioning.
To support this OPERCOMTM methodology, the Total group developed the software ICAPS©.
This allows organization and monitoring of the preparation as well as execution of the different
pre-commissioning and commissioning phases of an installation.
The various functionalities allowed by this software are:
• Preparation of equipment list

• Preparation of the database of the task to be performed listed by equipment, sub-systems,

etc.

• Generation of activity reports

• Management of the ‘punch list’ (see below)

• Calculation of project progress

• Provision of a database for future maintenance of the installation

5.2 Project Organization

During an EPCC project, the installation is divided into sub-projects, systems and sub-systems.

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This division of activities saves a significant amount of time. As soon as the construction of one
subsystem is completed (notably pipes installation, supports, equipment and wires), the pre-
commissioning phase can start, even if the whole installation is not competed yet.

Figure 7: Comparison between normal project and a project under the OPERCOM philosophy

Similarly, this division enables carrying out the commissioning tasks of certain subsystems,
whereas the construction and pre-commissioning of other subsystems is not completed yet (see
Section 4.1)
According to OPERCOMTM, the division is as follows:
• Project: the whole installation (boat, platform, factory, etc.)

• System: subdivision of the project that performs a main function (electric generation,
heating generation and distribution, water treatment, HVAC, etc.)

• Subsystem: subdivision of a system that performs a partial function of the system (waste
heat recovery unit, produced water collection, ventilation for living quarters, etc.)

• Basic Function: group of equipment performing one elementary function (pump and its
instrumentation, etc.)

• Item: equipment to check parts individually during the pre-commissioning execution

(pump, fan, valve, transmitter, etc.)

5.3 Pre-commissioning Activities

From a methodological point of view, pre-commissioning activity can be divided into three types
of activity:

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 • Conformity Checks: These are conducted on each item in order to visually check the
general condition of the equipment as well as its conformity with design project
specifications.
• Static Tests: These are de-energized tests carried out on each item in order to check
individual performance and quality (calibration of a transmitter, cables insulation, setting
of a security pressure valve, etc.)
• Piping Tests: These tests are conducted on the piping and the vessels to check their
mechanical integrity, cleanliness, and alignment (flushing, mechanical resistance test using
water under pressure, chemical cleaning, leak test with air under low pressure). These
tests are organized by ‘Test Pack’.
A ‘punch list’ is used throughout the project. It enables identifying all missing, incomplete or
unsatisfactory documents and components. The punch list must be cleared before the beginning
of the next phase.
An A-category punch list marks a major blocking point observed during the pre-commissioning
activity. It prevents starting the commissioning of the considered subsystem (missing equipment,
defective cable, etc.). It must be cleared before the signature of the ‘Ready for Commissioning’
certificate. This certificate validates the end of the pre-commissioning phase of the final
installation.

Figure 8: Summary of the pre-commissioning activity

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 5.4 “Commissioning” activities
From a methodological point of view, commissioning activity can be divided into four different
types of activity.
• Preliminary Checks: These are carried out on each subsystem before the ‘Ready for
Commissioning’ certificate is issued. It is a verification of the physical integrity of the
subsystem, including also a review of the pre-commissioning dossier of the appropriate
subsystem.
• Functional Tests: These energized tests are carried out on each electrical, instrumental
or telecommunication basic function. This test proves the operability of the basic
function according to the design criteria (e.g. proving the proper functioning of a
pressure, temperature, or flow instrumentation). The electricity distribution readiness is a
necessary condition to operate functional tests.
• Piping and Vessels Preparation: This activity is carried out on all the piping and the
vessels in order to prove that they conform to specifications and are ready to receive the
hydrocarbons (e.g. leak test, cleanliness of the pipes and the vessels, absence of oxygen,
etc.). The typical activities are the following: drying, leak test with helium or nitrogen,
reduction of the oxygen percentage, filling of the chemicals. These preparations are
organized by ‘Test Pack’.
• Operational Tests: Operational tests are carried out on each sub-system in order to
demonstrate that they are ready to operate as per the design. The tests confirm whether
the sub-system is able to perform with nominal operational performance under proper
security conditions. Inert fluid (water, nitrogen, air or diesel) is used to operate the
subsystem during a significant period of time (from a few hours up to some days). The
proper operation of the security systems is especially examined during this test (fire-water
system, emergency stop of the installation under unsafe working conditions, gas
emergency release, etc.)
This Master Thesis report is focused especially on operational tests, which are the most complex
test procedures during the commissioning phase.
A B-category ‘Punch List’ marks a major blocking point observed during the commissioning
activity. It prevents beginning the start-up operation of the considered subsystem.

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Figure 9: Summary of the commissioning activity

5.5 Start-up Activities

The ‘Ready for Start-up’ certificate issuance marks the end of the commissioning phase of a
subsystem. It attests that all activities have been carried out properly and that the sub-system can
operate.
The start-up activities correspond to the hydrocarbons introduction phase and the progressive
deployment of the utility and process systems (electrical generation, lighting, service water,
instrument air, etc.). It begins when all the required sub-systems are certified ‘Ready for Start-up’.
It stops when all the equipment is working normally and in a stable way. After this phase, the
installation can be transferred to the final Client for operation.
The Client and the contractor can agree to proceed to the commissioning phase off-shore with
the introduction of hydrocarbons.
A C-category punch list marks a major blocking point that prevents the signature of the
‘Commissioning Completion’ certificate. This certificate marks the total responsibility transfer of
the installation between the final Client and the contractor. These defaults are of secondary
importance (painting work, non-essential documentation, etc.) but need to be cleared before the
end of the project.

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 5.6 Engineering Documents
During the engineering phase, the contractor (or the company responsible for the engineering
sub-contract) produces documents for the representation of the installation. Among these, the
main documents are:
- Isometric Drawing: This is a scale drawing of the installation containing dimensions of
the pipes, vessels, ship, equipment, etc.
- Process and Instrumentation Diagram (PID): This is a schematic representation of the
pipes, vessels, pumps, process equipment, and all the instrumentation and control of the
associated commands. Generally, a subsystem is represented by several PIDs.
- Process and Flow Diagram (PFD): This is a simplified diagram of the overall installation
from a process viewpoint. Generally, a PFD represents an entire system.
- Single-line Diagram (SLD): This is an electric schematic representation using single-line
representation. The whole electric installation of the site is represented using many SLDs.
- Causes And Effects (CAE) Matrix: This is a double-entry table synthesizing the logic
functioning of the control system and security of the site.
- Data Document (DAT): This is a list of the specific data of certain equipment, such as
dimension, power, intensity, noise, nominal flow rate, etc. Generally, these documents are
supplied by the vendors.

PIDs are the documents that reference all the process equipment and their inter-connections.
They gather all the necessary information for comprehension of the process on the
installation:
- Circulation direction, and the type of the fluid
- Number, dimension, rate, and composition of the pipes
- Number, name, function, and main characteristic of the process equipment
- Number, function, set point of the instrumentation equipment, and their associated
security (trigger point for the opening or closing of valves, alarm, shutdown of
equipment, etc.)

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 5.7 Commissioning: Onshore and Offshore
The split of activities between those at shore and offshore can be summarized as follow:
• At shore: All utilities and process systems that do not require hydrocarbon to be commissioned
and are not subject to offshore hook up will be fully commissioned before sail away. Other
systems will be commissioned to the maximum possible extent.
• Offshore: All commissioning activities requiring hydrocarbon and/or offshore hook up will be
completed offshore and subsequent systems commissioning will be completed.

The priorities are:

• To ensure that all works are carried out in a safe and efficient manner, safeguarding personnel
and equipment with minimal impact on the regional environment;
• To maximise the amount of work completed Onshore, before Sail Away. This, in order to limit
the project exposure to different or unknown/unsecure industrial environment and associated
risks in terms of cost and schedule, and to minimize the duration of offshore commissioning and
therefore the overall schedule;
• To ensure that all facilities meet their respective performance output rates as designed without
any unplanned turndown or shutdown;
• To execute the Commissioning in a planned and controlled manner to bring the offshore
facilities into service within time and budget;
• To demonstrate and put on record that all equipment has been tested according to the project
specifications and best industry standards.

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6 HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL TEST
PROCEDURES
6.1 General Planning
The FPSO Ichthys is divided into two main parts: the hull and the topsides. The hull is the first
part to be constructed and tested. The cooling and heating systems both belong to the topsides.
As the cooling medium system is required in all the subsystems including a pump with a cooling
system, the construction of the M05 module for the cooling medium system is the first one. As a
consequence, the cooling medium system is the first system to be tested during the topsides
commissioning. The heating medium system will be used only during offshore operation. As a
consequence, the heating medium system is one of the last systems to be tested. Both of the
operational tests are initially planned to last five weeks.

6.2 Cooling System

Note: The figures in this section and the name tags for the cooling system components refer to
the overall schematic of the cooling medium system shown in Appendix 1.

6.2.1 Activity completion

As mentioned in Section 5.4 (Commissioning Activities), before the operational tests can take
place, conformity checks must be conducted. These checks ensure that all the pre-commissioning
tasks (mentioned in Section 5.3. Pre-commissioning Activities) have been realized and the points
in the A-category punch list have been cleared.
The functional test is necessary in order to ensure that all the instrumentation (pressure,
temperature, level, noise or vibration indicators) are tested and calibrated. The alarms generated
by the instrumentation are also tested. These tests are primordial, as the operational tests rely on
the instrumentation.
Piping and vessel preparation is necessary in order to confirm that the system is able to support
nominal pressure of 900kPa. The pressure test is realized by injecting nitrogen under pressure.

6.2.2 Pre-requirement of the OTP for the cooling medium system

Prior to commissioning, the availability of utilities such as instrument air, hydraulic power valve
control system, power generation and distribution, and HP flare must be confirmed. Instrument
air and hydraulic power valve control systems are among the first systems to be ready as they are
required in almost all the systems. Similarly, power distribution is required in almost all the
systems and is one of the first systems to be tested. However, power generation onboard, which
is provided by a gas turbine, will not deliver any power during the onshore commissioning phase.
The power is supplied by a temporary external power generator.

According to the construction and commissioning planning, the HP flare should be ready to use
for the operational test of the cooling medium system. In case the commissioning of the HP flare
is not finished yet, a temporary hose connection could be used to extract nitrogen to an
appropriate and safe place.

The seawater system needs to be established prior to start-up of the cooling medium system. This
system includes 3 x 33% seawater lift pumps, each pump having a design capacity of 4,740 m3/h.

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The cooling medium system is the main power user (90%). The seawater system will not be ready
for this operational test. In order to avoid deformation of the heat exchangers structure due to
lack of seawater under pressure, seawater must be provided during testing. Moreover, once the
cooling medium system is ready, it will be used to cool other systems during their operational
tests. Figure 9 shows the seawater requirement during the onshore commissioning phase. Before
the seawater lift pump is ready, a flow rate of 1,500 m3/h is required. In order to provide this
flow rate, three temporary seawater lift pumps with a capacity of 500 m3/h will be used.

Required Capacity (m3/h)

4500

4000 3 x 500 m3/h supplied by

temporary seawater lift pumps
3500

3000 Commissioning of the cooling Seawater Lift Pumps Readiness

medium system
2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
01-okt-15 01-nov-15 01-dec-15 01-jan-16 01-feb-16 01-mar-16 01-apr-16 01-maj-16

Figure 10: Seawater required capacity for operational tests

The service water system will not be ready. The cooling medium loops need to be filled with
significant quantities of service water. The estimated required volume of service water is 500 m³.
The filling of the loops will be done prior to the operational test conducted. Certified-quality
water will be brought by tank lorries and transferred to the loops by temporary hose connection.
Multiple filling points and venting points will be needed to remove the air from the cooling
loops. The venting points are located close to the pumps and the heat exchangers. During the
filling, the low-level alarms on the expansion drum will be dynamically tested.

The cooling medium loops should be injected with corrosion inhibitor and biocide to protect the
system piping. The estimated required injection rate is 2,000L for the corrosion inhibitor and
150L for the biocide. If water were removed after the operational test, it would have been tested
without the chemicals. The agreement with the client is that the water inside the cooling medium
loops will not be removed after the operational test. But the chemical drums (for the corrosion
inhibitor and the biocide) will not be ready for the cooling medium’s operational test. During the
water filling of the cooling medium system, an appropriate dosage of corrosion inhibitor and
biocide will be added. The dosage of chemicals will be determined by manual sampling along the
cooling medium loop.
Once the cooling medium system is filled with water, the cooling medium expansion drum needs
to be filled with nitrogen. The filling requirement is estimated to be 30 Sm³. Nitrogen will not be
ready for commissioning of the cooling medium system. As the pressure required is only 600–800

-25-
kPa (in comparison with the heating medium system, which needs 2,600 kPa), the system can be
pressurized with temporary compressors connected by a temporary hose connection. The
pressure will be controlled on the discharge line of the compressors.

Note: The unit ‘Sm³’ is the standard cubic metre. It should not be confused with ‘Nm³’, which is
the normal cubic metre. Both represent a gas volume unit. The reference conditions are the
following: temperature of 0°C and pressure of 101,325 kPa for the normal cubic metre; and
temperature of 15°C and pressure of 101,325 kPa for the standard cubic metre.

6.2.3 Control Philosophy

The objective of this OTP is to prove that the cooling system functions as per design, to ensure
that all safety devices function as per design, and to check the function and operation of the
equipment in different operating modes.
The safety devices must be tested during the operational test. Discussions between the client, the
constructor, and the company in charge of commissioning led to the following agreement.
Reaching a safety trip indicates that the system runs in a hazardous range of parameters. In case
of failure of the trip, the test could damage the equipment. In order to prevent any damage, the
safety device trip is tested by changing its setting point below/above the current value. Then, the
initial setting point is re-instated.
This operational test must prove that the system functions as per design. The following
equipment and their associated control need to be checked:
- Cooling medium expansion drum pressure control
- Cooling medium pumps flow and pressure control
- Cooling medium exchanger flow and temperature control
- Cooling medium users temperature control

In the following sections, each piece of equipment and its instrumentation is described more
specifically. The commissioning philosophy is to test each instrument by changing the set point
(to a lower/higher value than the current one) and confirm the actions on the different
equipment. In case the commissioning is done in another way, the philosophy will be mentioned.

[Link] Cooling Medium Expansion Drum S-650-V-001

Pressure Control:
Pressure in the cooling expansion drum is maintained by the presence of a pressurized nitrogen
blanket. A constant pressure in the drum is achieved by pressure regulators in the nitrogen inlet
and vent gas outlet lines, respectively. To minimize the consumption of high pressure nitrogen,
the drum has 2x100% split range blanketing valves S-690-PCV-032-A/B on the drum overhead.
Pressure fluctuation due to liquid level is allowed within the pressure band of 150 – 350 kPag.
Outbreathing of the vapour is vented to the HP flare system via 2x100% split range pressure
regulators S-690-PCV-028-A/B. The pressure is controlled in the drum to prevent reaching the
boiling point of water. In case of a too high pressure in the tank, the PZHH trip will shut down
the supply nitrogen valve S-690-SDV-031.

As mentioned in the paragraph 6.2.2 the nitrogen supply system will not be ready. Temporary air
supply will be connected to both inlet (1) (refer to Figure 10) and outlet (2) of the pressure control
valve S-690-PCV-032-A. In order to avoid pressurizing the Expansion Drum above its design
pressure, the valve before the inlet of the pressure control valve S-690-PCV-028-A (3) will be
opened. First, air will be supplied by valves (2) and valve (3) will be closed progressively to test

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the operation of pressure control valve S-690-PCV-028-A/B. Then, air will be supplied by valve
(1) to test the operation of pressure control valve S-690-PCV-032-A/B.

(1) (2) (3)

Figure 11: Sketch of the cooling medium expansion drum and pumps

Level Control:
There is no automatic control on the drum level as it is sized for the maximum expansion of
cooling medium from minimum ambient temperature of 19°C to maximum operating
temperature of 80°C during turndown. The level rises and falls in accordance with the
temperature of the system. At very low level values in the expansion drum (2 out-of 3 voting are
provided for this LZLL to increase the reliability) the cooling medium pumps are instantly shut
down. In addition, upon triggering high level, switch S-650-LSH-004-A will shut down the
service water supply valve S-672-XV-001.

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A switch is tested in the same way as a trip – by changing the set point below (for a high switch)
or above (for a low switch) the current value. However it is interesting to explain the difference
between a switch and a trip. A switch will start/stop a pump or open/close a valve. It changes
the current state of the equipment. A trip will stop a pump or close a valve by forcing the
equipment to go in its failure state and by inhibiting the equipment. A trip – contrary to the
switch – will provide to re-start the pump or to re-open the valve. The operator will need to
access the central security system to remove the inhibition.

[Link] Cooling Medium Pumps, S-650-P-001-A/B/C

Refer to Figure 10 and Appendix 1

Flow and Pressure Control:

The cooling medium pumps operate as 3 x 100% up to year 2, and as 3 x 50% for later years. The
test will be done with the 3 x 100% configuration.
On failure of one of the operating pumps or low flow in the individual cooling medium pumps
discharge, the standby pump will auto-start. The cooling medium pumps must be tested in full
capacity to avoid high discharge pressure due to a lower flow rate.
The pump recycle flow line acts to prevent high differential pressure between the supply and
return headers and to maintain the minimum flow. When the cooling medium demand depletes,
there will be an increase in differential pressure across the supply and return headers. When the
differential pressure exceeds the set point of 500 kPa, differential pressure indicator S-650-PDIC-
024 will send signal to open the 2 x 100% recycle valve S-650-FV-010-A/B to maintain the
closed loop flow.
Dedicated low flow controllers are provided for the cooling medium pumps - S-650-FI-
257/258/259. The output from the flow controller of each pump is halved and summation of the
outputs is used for modulating the recycle valve (each sized for minimum flow of two pumps).
This output will override the signal from PDIC-024 and take control over FV-010-A/B.
In addition, dedicated low low-flow trip is provided for each pump which will cause a trip for the
respective pump. However, if all operating pumps FZLL are triggered, this will initiate a
production shutdown after a timer delay.

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[Link] Cooling Medium Exchangers, S-650-E-001-A/B/C/D

Note 1: Pressure and temperature indicators belong to the seawater

distribution system

Figure 12: Sketch of the seawater/cooling medium exchangers

Flow Control:
The seawater / cooling medium exchangers operate as 4 x 50% up to year 2, and as 4 x 33% for
later years. The number of operating exchangers will be manually adjusted over the years of
operation. During commissioning, the 4 x 50 % configuration will be tested.
The seawater flow need to be maintained at a constant rate through the seawater/ cooling
medium exchangers independent of the cooling medium system cooling load. As mentioned in
the paragraph 6.2.2, the seawater for the test will be supplied by temporary lift pumps.

Temperature Control:
At low cooling medium system loads, the temperature controller S-650-TIC-028 on the cooling
medium supply header will detect low temperature and open the 2 x 100% control valve in the
cooling medium bypass line around the seawater/ cooling medium exchangers, S-650-TV-028-
A/B to control the supply temperature at 34°C. As none of the users will be ready for the
operational test of the cooling medium, the temperature inside the cooling loop will not increase.
The temperature control will be tested by reducing the temperature set point (as mentioned in
section 6.2.3.).

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[Link] Cooling Medium Users
Temperature Control:
Cooling medium supply to individual users is controlled by dedicated temperature controllers on
the process stream acting on the control valves in the cooling medium outlet lines. None of the
cooling users will be ready to operate. However, some of the equipment will already be installed.
It will be possible to pass the cooling medium through the internal heat exchanger of these
equipment. For all other equipment, the inlet and outlet shutdown valves will be closed.

6.2.4 Post-operational Test

The main consideration in the cooling medium system is establishing minimum flows through
the users before cooling can be initiated. After the operational test, it will be important to balance
the cooling water supply and cooling demand requirement. With a new cooling demand lining up,
a temporary temperature rise in the cooling medium supply is expected.

The target temperature for the cooling medium supply temperature at the outlet of the heat
exchangers is considered as 34°C for design purposes. During actual operation in the initial years,
a lower supply temperature is attainable due to higher heat-transfer efficiencies with excess
surface on clean exchangers. Therefore, the set-point of the supply header target temperature will
be adjusted accordingly based on actual operational conditions to avoid unnecessary flow
through the bypass line.

6.3 Heating System

Note: The figures in this section and the name tags for the heating system components refer to
the overall schematic of the two heating system circuits shown in Appendices 2 and 3.

6.3.1 Activity completion

As mentioned in Section 5.4 (Commissioning Activities), before the operational tests can take
place, conformity checks must be conducted. These checks ensure that all the pre-commissioning
tasks (mentioned in Section 5.3. Pre-commissioning Activities) have been realized and the points
in the A-category punch list have been cleared.
The functional test is necessary in order to ensure that all the instrumentation (pressure,
temperature, level, noise or vibration indicators) are tested and calibrated. The alarms generated
by the instrumentation are also tested. These tests are primordial, as the operational tests rely on
the instrumentation.
Piping and vessel preparation is necessary in order to confirm that the system is able to support
nominal pressure (2850 kPa). The pressure test is realized by injecting nitrogen under pressure.
The heating medium system operational test will occur many months after the cooling medium
operational test.

6.3.2 Pre-requirement of the OTP for the heating system

In the same way as the cooling medium operational test, prior to commissioning, the availability
of utilities such as instrument air, hydraulic power valve control system, power generation and
distribution, and HP flare must be confirmed. The instrument air and hydraulic power valve
control systems are among the first systems to be ready as they are required in almost all the
systems. Similarly, power distribution is required in almost all system and is one of the first to be
ready. However, power generation onboard, which is provided by a gas turbine, will not be

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operational during the onshore commissioning phase. The necessary power is supplied instead
via a temporary external power generator.
According to the construction and commissioning planning, the HP flare will be ready to use for
the operational test of the cooling medium system.
In the same way as for the cooling medium system, the filling of the water will be done with a
temporary hose connection. The same proportion of corrosion inhibitor and biocide is required
for the heating medium (refer to Section 6.2.2). The needed quantity of water is estimated to be
600 m3 for the primary circuit and 200 m3 for the secondary circuit.
As the heating medium system needs to be pressurized to above 2,400 kPag, the nitrogen cylinder
package (which supplies high-pressure nitrogen) needs to be ready to use for the operational test.
Nitrogen for the first fill of the heating medium expansion drum will be supplied by the nitrogen
cylinder package up to 2,000 kPag, or by high-pressure bottled nitrogen in case the nitrogen
cylinder package is temporarily unavailable during the first filling. The filling requirement is
estimated at 2,000 Sm³ (270 bottles at 50-litre capacity filled at 19,000 kPag). However,
approximately 800 Sm³ of this could be supplied from the low-pressure nitrogen system, which
operates at up to 720 kPag. The nitrogen cylinder package has the capacity to deliver only 68
Sm³/h; hence, pressurization of the heating medium expansion drum will take up to 30 hours,
without taking credit of flow from the low-pressure nitrogen header.
The filling requirement for the secondary heating medium expansion drum is estimated at 55
Sm³, which can be supplied by the low-pressure nitrogen system. The nitrogen system has a
design capacity of more than 1,000 Sm³/h and, hence, would be able to provide these volumes in
reasonable time.
Contrary to the cooling medium system design, the heating medium will not be used for the
commissioning of other systems. The cooling system needs to be really cooled by seawater but
the heating system does not require the heating sources (the WHRUs and combustion heaters) to
be ready for the commissioning phase. However, performance tests should be done.

6.3.3 Control Philosophy

The objective of this operational test is to prove that the heating system functions as per design,
to ensure that all safety devices function as per design, and to check the function and operation
of the equipment in different operating modes.
The safety devices must be tested during the operational test (refer to Section 6.2.3 Control
Philosophy of the Cooling Medium)
This operational test must prove that the system functions as per design. The following
equipment and their associated controls need to be checked onshore:
Primary circuit:
• Heating medium expansion drum pressure control
• Heating medium circulation pumps and heating medium minimum flow pumps flow and
pressure control
• Waste heat recovery unit flow and temperature control
• Heating medium dump coolers temperature control
• Primary heating medium supply and return headers temperature and pressure control

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 Secondary circuit:
• Secondary heating medium expansion drum pressure and level control
• Secondary heating medium circulation pumps flow and pressure control

Since the vendor of the combustion heaters (Alfa Laval) prohibits testing its equipment onshore
(for safety reasons) the second part of the commissioning will be done offshore. The following
equipment and their associated controls need to be checked:
• Heating medium heaters temperature and flow control and the heater start-up operation
• Emergency shutdown sequence

In the sections to follow here below, each equipment and their instrumentation is described more
specifically. The commissioning philosophy is to test each instrument by changing the set point
(to a lower/higher value than the current one) and confirm the actions of the different
equipment. In case the commissioning is done in another way, the philosophy will be mentioned.

[Link] Heating Medium Expansion Drum

(1)

(3)

(2)

Figure 13: Sketch of heating medium expansion drum

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Pressure Control

To minimise the consumption of high pressure nitrogen from nitrogen cylinder package, the
drum has gap control on pressure via the 2 × 100% set of blanketing valves S-640-PV-009-
A/B/C/D on the drum overhead. Pressure fluctuations due to liquid level are allowed within the
pressure band of 2450 - 2550 kPag. Out-breathing of the vapour is vented to the HP flare. The
blanketing valves S-640-PV-009-C/D will be tested first by using a jumper (a temporary flexible
hose) between the inlet and the outlet of the blanketing valves S-640-PV-009-A. Then, blanketing
valves S-640-PV-009-C/D will be tested.

For the heating medium expansion drum – as for the cooling medium expansion drum –
pressurisation is done by regulating nitrogen pressure with pressure control valves. In order to
prevent any over-pressurisation due to a valve failure, two pressure safety valves are installed on
the expansion drum. These valves will mechanically opened when the design pressure of the
expansion drum is reached. Once a safety pressure valve is opened, a certification company must
approve the reinstatement. In order to avoid this procedure, the outlet pressure control valves are
always tested first. It will ensure that design pressure will not be reached.

Figure 14: Split range details of the controller S-640-PIC-009

Level Control

There is no automatic control on the drum level as it is sized for the maximum expansion of
heating medium from minimum ambient temperature to maximum operating temperature. The
level rises and falls in accordance with the temperature of the system.
A low level or low pressure signal in the heating medium expansion drum, indicating a loss of
containment of the heating medium (e.g. due to exchanger tube rupture), will trip the heating
medium circulation pumps instantly, along with tripping of the heat sources and activating a
delayed process shutdown of the condensate processing trains. Heating medium combustion
heaters have independent low-pressure trips.

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[Link] Heating Medium Circulation Pumps and Heating Medium
Minimum Flow Pumps

(1)

(2)

(3)

Figure 15: Sketch of heating medium pumps

The heating medium circulation pumps (S-640-P-001-A/B/C) operate as 3 × 100% up to year 5

and as 3 × 50% for later years. The number of running pumps will be manually adjusted over the
years of operation to ensure that adequate circulation is maintained. The heating medium
circulation pumps will be tested in the 3 x 100% configuration.
The pump recycle flow line (cold bypass line) acts to maintain minimum flow for up to two
pumps. The output from the flow controller of each pump is halved and summation of the
outputs is used for modulating the 2 × 100% recycle flow valve S-640-FV-011-A/B - each sized
for minimum flow of two pumps.

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The spare pumps have an auto-start facility to maintain the flow on the loss of a duty pump. It
will be tested by simulating an electrical fault on the electrical switchboard of the duty pump.
The standby pumps are normally kept hot with 2 m³/h of reverse flow from the pump discharge
header via the bypass across the discharge check valve, in order to minimize the thermal shock
upon auto-start.
As the MEG modules are shut down during commissioning, required heating medium flow rate
will be much lower than normal. For all the operational tests, only one heating medium
circulation pump will run at the time.
The heating medium minimum flow pumps are not normally operating. In the event of main
power failure or other fault causing a trip of the heating medium circulation pumps, one of the
heating medium minimum flow pumps will auto-start upon loss of heating medium flow to the
WHRUs (based on S-640-FSL-019 signal) ensuring a minimum forward flow of heating medium
to prevent a rise in fluid temperature due to absorption of residual heat above the design
temperature of the WHRU coils under pressurized conditions (350°C), as well as to avoid
cascading the trip to any surviving main power generators (in this case to another gas turbine
generator and its WHRU).
For this reason, the motors of the minimum flow pumps are on the emergency power board.
Residual heat in the WHRU comprises heat gained from exhaust gas leaking past the closed
dampers and heat from radiative transfer within the WHRU enclosure. The capacity of each of
these pumps is based on meeting the minimum required flow through the WHRU to attain
permissive signals to run the gas turbine generators (3 × 80,000 kg/h). This capacity represents
only 6.7% of the peak circulation rate (including the filter slipstream) and will not be able to
supply heating medium to any significant topside consumer during normal operation.
Both minimum flow pumps are normally kept hot with 1.5 m³/h of reverse flow from the pump
discharge header via the bypass across the discharge check valve, to minimize thermal shock
upon auto-start.
Once the heating medium minimum flow pumps will be tested, the low flow switch (S-640-FSL-
019) needs to be set in OFF mode. Otherwise the heating medium minimum flow pumps will
start automatically as soon as circulation pumps are stopped.

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[Link] Waste Heat Recovery Units

Figure 16: Sketch of heating medium WHRUs

Flow and Temperature Control

Dampers in the exhaust of the main power generation gas turbines control the balance of hot
exhaust gas flow to the WHRU heating coils and the WHRU bypass, in order to regulate the
heating medium outlet temperature. Also, S-640-FV-037 /048 /107 are provided on the outlet of
the WHRUs to regulate the flow of heating medium. The temperature controllers S-640-TIC-033
/044 /103 on the WHRU heating medium outlet have a split-range action to maintain an outlet
temperature of 210°C by adjusting the position of the WHRU dampers when waste heat from
the exhaust is in excess and flow of heating medium through the coils is already maximised; or to
throttle the position of the S-640-FV-037 /044 /107 when waste heat is in deficit and dampers
have already diverted all exhaust gases to the WHRU coils (refer to figures 15 and 16).

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This configuration will maximise the heat recovery from the WHRUs at all times. The minimum
heating medium flow required through the WHRU to enable firing of the corresponding gas
turbine generator is 80,000 kg/h. However, if the coils have been manually drained,
depressurized and continuously vented to the atmosphere, an operator override can be activated
to enable dry run of the gas turbines. The minimum heating medium flow required through the
WHRU to actuate the dampers and divert a portion of the exhaust gas to the heating coils is
190,000 kg/h, therefore the S-640-FIC-037 /044 /107 shall have a minimum flow set point of
209,000 kg/h.
The WHRU dampers in the gas turbine exhaust also have a trip function. In the event of a
heating medium system trip, they fully close the exhaust flow path to the heating coil so that no
further heat is supplied to the heating medium system and divert all the exhaust flow through the
WHRU bypasses.
According to the provisory schedule for the commissioning phase, each gas turbine generator is
planned to be tested approximately at the same time as the heating medium system. The WHRU
section of the heating medium performance/operational test execution will remain on hold until
gas turbine operational test begins. As there is no heat user, the temperature of the heating
medium will keep increasing. The dump cooler will be forced to run to dissipate the heat.
The main power gas turbine generator (GTG) is normally started with diesel and then runs with
fuel gas (gasoil). Onshore, the operational test of the GTG will be carried out with diesel.
Offshore the operational test of the GTG will be carried out with fuel gas. After the onshore
operational test of the GTG, the GTG will be stopped, and the power will still be supplied by
temporary power generators. For this reason, the WHRU operational test must be carried out
when the GTG is tested with gasoil.

Figure 17: Flow valve controller

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[Link] Heating Medium Dump Coolers

Figure 18: Sketch of distribution of the primary heating medium circuit

Temperature Control

The heating medium flow from the heat sources (WHRUs and gas heaters) is routed to the
heating medium dump coolers, the heating medium exchangers and the MEG regeneration
package. The temperature valves S-640-TV-159-A/B at the inlet of the heating medium dump
coolers open when the first temperature controller in the heating medium return header detects
excursions above 180°C. As the minimum flow pumps, the fans of the heating medium dump
cooler are powered from the emergency power board and will auto-start when the heating
medium return header temperature exceeds 185°C, enabling full capacity of the coolers to
dissipate residual heat absorbed in the WHRUs. The fans are automatically stopped when return
header temperature is lowered below 175°C. It will be confirmed that the temperature valves S-
640-TV-159-A/B cannot open in case the gas burners are not working at minimum flow.

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[Link] Primary Heating Medium Supply and Return Headers
Temperature Control

The return header temperature should be maintained within a temperature band of ±5°C, in
order to minimize in-breathing and out-breathing of the nitrogen blanket at the heating medium
expansion drum. As heat demand increases, if the heating medium return temperature drops
further than 5°C below the target temperature, the second temperature controller S-640-TIC-158
on the return header will override the hand control signal (S-640-HIC-130 / 140 / 210) on the
heating medium heaters and increase the flow set point for S-640-FIC-130 / 140 / 210 to meet
new equilibrium conditions. When the return header temperature is restored to within ±2°C of
the target temperature, the override will be relinquished and the control will be returned to the
HIC with bumpless transfer.
Hence similarly for this scenario, when the temperature exceeds more than 5°C above the return
header target temperature, the second temperature controller S-640-TIC-158 on the return
header will override the S-640-HIC-130 / 140 / 210 signals on the Heating Medium Heaters and
reduce the flow set point for S-640-FIC-130 / 140 / 210 to meet new equilibrium conditions.
When the return header temperature is restored to within ±2°C of the target temperature, the
override will be relinquished and the control will be returned to the HIC with bumpless transfer.
Note: As the heating medium heaters are not part of the onshore scope of work, this will be
tested offshore.

Figure 19: Split range details of the controller S-640-TIC-158

Pressure Control

If there are insufficient users for the heat supplied from the WHRUs and heating medium
heaters, there will be an increase in differential pressure across the supply and return headers.
When the differential exceeds the set point of 200 kPa, differential pressure controller S-640-
PDIC-220 will send a signal to open either of S-640-PDV-220-A/B on the hot bypass line, which
in turn causes an increase in the return header temperature (refer to Temperature Control).

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The target temperature for the heating medium return header is considered as 160°C for design
purposes. During actual operation in the initial years, a lower return temperature is attainable due
to higher heat transfer efficiencies with excess surface on clean exchangers. A lower return
temperature enables higher heat recovery to be obtained at the WHRUs. Therefore the set point
of the return header target temperature shall be adjusted during commissioning accordingly based
on actual operational conditions to minimize (or ideally to completely avoid) unnecessary flow
through the hot bypass line (gauged by the opening of S-640-PDV-220-A/B), in order to attain
the lowest stable heating medium return header temperature and maximise heat recovery at the
WHRUs.

[Link] Secondary Heating Medium Expansion Drum

The methodology is similar to the philosophy of the primary heating medium expansion drum.

Pressure Control

To minimise the consumption of nitrogen, the drum has gap control on pressure via the 2×100%
set of blanketing valves S-640-PCV-169-A/B/C/D on the drum overhead. Pressure fluctuations
due to liquid level are allowed within the pressure band of 240 - 340 kPag. Out-breathing of the
vapour is vented to the HP flare.
Refer to the section [Link] for the description of the test for the pressure control valve.

Level Control

There is no automatic control on the drum level as it is sized for the maximum expansion of
heating medium from minimum ambient temperature to maximum operating temperature. The
level rises and falls in accordance with the temperature of the system.
A low level signal in the secondary heating medium expansion drum shuts down the secondary
heating medium circulation pumps instantly and causes a time delayed trip of the liquid
processing trains.

[Link] Secondary Heating Medium Circulation Pumps

The circulation pumps for the secondary circuit are 2 × 100% pumps. The pump recycle flow
line (cold bypass line) acts to maintain minimum flow for one pump via S-640-FV-179-A/B. The
spare pump has an auto-start facility to maintain the flow on the loss of a duty pump.
The standby pump is normally kept hot with 2 m³/h of reverse flow from the pump discharge
header via the bypass across the discharge check valve, to minimize thermal shock upon auto-
start. It will be tested by simulating an electrical fault on the electrical switchboard of the duty
pump.

[Link] The Offshore Phase of Commissioning

The vendor of the fuel gas fired heater (Alfa Laval) prohibits the subcontractor in charge of the
commissioning (Actemium) to test its equipment and to pass fluid through the heating medium
coils of the heaters. Moreover, the OPERCOMTM philosophy specifies that the test implying
hydrocarbons should be conducted during the offshore phase of commissioning. For these

-40-
reasons, the heating medium temperature and flow control, the heaters start-up operations, and
the emergency shutdown test will be carried out offshore.

Note: The OPERCOMTM philosophy specifies that the hydrocarbons tests should be conducted
offshore. However, some exceptions may be allowed to prevent any dysfunctions. An agreement
must be signed among the Client, the constructor, and the subcontractor in charge of the
commissioning. For instance, the gas turbine generator is tested onshore with the introduction of
diesel, and other tests will be carried out offshore by introducing fuel gas.

[Link] Heating Medium Combustion Heaters (Tested Offshore)

Figure 20: Schematic of the heating medium gas-fired heaters

Temperature Control

The fuel gas flow to each fired heater is controlled by the package vendor’s automatic
combustion control system, via a temperature control feedback loop on the individual heating
medium outlet lines to maintain a temperature of 210°C.

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Flow Control

The flows of heating medium through the heating medium heaters are normally maintained by
manual input of flow set point to the flow controllers S-640-FIC-130 / 140 / 210. The minimum
heating medium flow required to enable firing of the burners is 500,000 kg/h, therefore the FIC
will be fixed a minimum flow set point of 550,000 kg/h during commissioning.
In the event of a trip of the heating medium circulation pumps and the heating medium system
going into a minimum flow mode (to the WHRUs), the fuel gas to the heating medium heater
packages will be isolated and a signal will be sent to the package burner management system to
directly trip the burners. No minimum flow is required to be maintained when the heat input /
fuel supply to the package has ceased.
In case one or both MEG modules are shut down in later years, required heat demand will be
much lower than normal. Depending on the remaining heat demand and heat recovery from the
WHRUs, one or both online heating medium heaters shall be manually shutdown to avoid
excessive heat input and thermal expansion in the primary circuit.
The standby unit(s) are normally kept hot with a forward flow of 25 m³/h from the heating
medium circulation pumps to minimize warm-up time and enable fast start-up upon demand.

Gas Flow Control

The forced circulation of water ensures the heat absorbed by the water walls does not form steam
in the water. No loss of heat transfer can occur so long as water flow is maintained through the
heater. In order to avoid steaming and possible damage to the tubes from overheating, water flow
must be maintained through the heater at all times while firing. Water flow and pressure
measurement is therefore necessary to ensure the minimum flow and pressure requirements are
always maintained. If water flow or pressure falls below the required set point, the heater’s
burners shall be tripped.
The water temperature entering and exiting the heater is also monitored. The inlet and outlet
shall trip the heater if their respective set points are exceeded.
The fired heaters are required to control the rate of burner firing to maintain the correct heater
water outlet temperature set point. This is achieved through another outlet temperature
transmitter (S-640-TT-129). The heater’s system controls the firing demand of the heater based
on the required heating medium outlet temperature. This outlet temperature set point can be
adjusted by the operator as required.
During the offshore phase, the three WHRUs, the MEG regeneration package, and the minimum
flow pumps will be bypassed. There will not be any user. As a matter of fact, the temperature
inside the primary heating medium circuit would keep increasing (preventing to test the heater
stabilisation). The fan dump coolers capacity is too low (3.5 MW) in comparison with the heater
capacity (from 34 MW at minimum gas flow rate to 80 MW at maximum gas flow rate for each
heater). The secondary heating medium circuit will be used as a temporary heat dissipater. The
secondary heating medium circulation pumps will run and the inlet valve of the heating medium
exchangers (the green valve represented in figure 20) will be opened intermittently.

Note: Each heating medium exchanger has a heating transfer capacity of 36MW. The capacity of
the exchanger is superior to the minimum capacity of the heater (34MW). If this were not the
case, the temperature would have kept increasing.

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Figure 21: Schematic of the heating medium circulation for the offshore phase of commissioning

Note: For the calculation, the following estimations are done. The heating medium (water with
corrosion inhibitor and biocide) is assumed to have the same density and specific heat as water
(ρ=1000kg/m3). The specific heat is assumed constant (cp=4.2kJ/kg.K). Considering the
following estimations, the temperature of one cubic meter of heating medium heated by a 1MW
heater should rise by 14.3 degrees per minute.

The primary and secondary circuit is filled respectively with about 600 and 200 m3 of water. One
heater working at minimum gas flow rate (34MW) would increase the water temperature in the
secondary circuit from 20°C to 115°C in less than 40 minutes. For this reason, the heaters will be
tested using the following steps (only one heater is tested at the time):
• Start-up of the heater A
• A temperature set-point is fixed in the heater A: TSP = initial temperature +50°C (the
temperature should be reached in about 25 minutes).
• The three burners of the heaters (80 MW) start one by one, following a specified
sequence (monitored by the pressure into the burners).
• The temperature of the water increases. The more the temperature increases, the less the
difference between the temperature transmitter and the temperature set-point is
important and the fewer burners are required. Regulation of the fuel gas and air flow is
observed.
• Then, when the pressure into the burners decreases, the burners stop one by one, until
only one burner remains (the minimum capacity is 34 MW due to a minimum gas flow
rate of 550,000 kg/h to allow firing).

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 • To avoid that the temperature keeps increasing, manual valves of the heating medium
exchangers will be opened before the temperature reaches the set-point.
• The temperature reaches the set-point and stabilizes. The heater A is shut down. The
manual valves of the heating medium exchangers must be closed.
• A nitrogen purge is conducted on the heater A.
The same logic is followed for the heaters B and C.
The final temperature of the primary circuit should remain inferior to 210°C (secondary circuit:
115°C), in order to prevent the water from boiling.
Refer to the graph 21 for the heater test concept (T.S.P.: temperature set-point; M.V.: manual valve for the inlet of
the heating medium exchanger, represented in green on figure 20)

Figure 22: Primary and secondary circuit heating medium temperature during heaters test

[Link] Emergency Shutdown (Tested Offshore)

The Emergency Shutdown can be ordered by pushing one of the pushbuttons present on the
heating medium system. Only one of these Pushbuttons is tested.

Emergency Shutdown
A platform emergency shutdown leads to:
1) Close all the shutdown valves.
2) Stop all burners on the heating medium heaters and close coil-side dampers on WHRUs.

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3) Maintain circulation flow in the primary circuit to allow heat dissipation through the WHRU
coils and heating medium heaters tubes. Blower fans on the heating medium heaters can be
activated to accelerate cooldown of the system. Cool down rate should be limited to not more
than 20°C per hour or as limited by blanketing HP nitrogen supply capacity.
Although contraction of the liquid inventory without any nitrogen make-up does not lead to
flashing / boiling, triggering of the drum PZLL should still be avoided to allow continuous
operation of the heating medium circulation pumps during this period.
4) Maintain circulation flow in the secondary circuit to allow cooling through the heating medium
exchangers when the primary circuit has cooled below 90°C. Similarly, cool down rate should be
limited to not more than 20°C per hour or as limited by blanketing LP nitrogen supply capacity
to avoid triggering of the drum PZLL.
5) When the temperatures throughout both circuits have fallen below 80°C, the circulation
pumps are stopped.
6) Depressurize the heating medium expansion drum and secondary heating medium expansion
drum to the HP flare.
7) Isolate individual equipment and drain to the open drain system.
8) Provide positive isolations.

6.3.4 Post-operational Test

The key start-up consideration relating to the heating medium system relates to establishing
minimum flows through the heat sources before heat input can be initiated as well as the
balancing of heat supply and demand when putting a new heat source into service.
When lining up a new heat source, temporary lowering of the supply temperature can be
expected due to dilution by unheated minimum flow.
Additionally, for a primary heating medium supply and return temperature of 210°C and 160°C
respectively, the heat input at minimum turndown capacity of the WHRUs (13 MW per unit due
to a minimum flow of 209,000 kg/h when the dampers are enabled for actuation) or heating
medium heaters (34 MW per unit due to a minimum flow of 550,000 kg/h to allow firing) will
become an excess within the system if there is no timely uptake of the heat by the condensate or
MEG processing trains. The heating medium dump coolers are designed for only 3.48 MW of
heat dissipation and will not be able to maintain temperature in return header at 160°C for any
operational condition other than residual heat removal from the WHRUs. Without adequate heat
sinks, the temperature on the return header can be expected to increase beyond the target of
160°C due to hot bypass of heating medium from the supply header, leading to further thermal
expansion of the heating medium inventory, out-breathing of nitrogen at the heating medium
expansion drum and ultimately a demand on high pressure nitrogen when the system is restored
to its normal operating envelope as heat supply versus demand equilibrates.
Therefore, start-up of individual heat sources (especially for the initial heat source in the primary
circuit) shall consider a gradual ramping-up of its outlet (supply) temperature, to be largely in-line
with the increase in heat demand, in order to minimize the impact to the operating pressure in
the primary heating medium system. Alternatively, subsequent heat sources can be put online
with minimal ramp up of its outlet temperature if the other heat sources already in service have
sufficient turndown capacity to accommodate the minimum heat input from the new heat source.
Also, as the WHRUs are smaller than the heating medium heaters, the system will be started up
using the WHRUs. This is also in-line with the philosophy of maximizing the heat recovery.

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7 CONCLUSION
Pre-commissioning, commissioning and start-up procedures are key points in oil & gas projects
although they represent less than 10% of the overall cost of a project. From the smallest details
(e.g. alignment of the pipes, setting of valves) to the most complex tasks (e.g. check the burner
start-up sequence, confirm the circulation pumps performances), the last phase of an EPCC
confirms that the project has been built as per design and has been adjusted to run in the most
efficient way.
This Master Thesis work describes and follows the Total’s industrial philosophy OPERCOMTM.
Other philosophies also exist, for example such as NORSOK for Statoil or DEP for Shell.
OPERCOMTM seems to provide a very efficient means for sub-dividing a project into sub-
projects/systems/sub-systems. As soon as a subsystem is constructed, conformity checks, piping
tests, static tests, preliminary tests, functional test, piping & vessel tests and finally operational
tests can be carried out. The inconveniency is that the project is divided into too many tasks. As
the people or teams processing these different tests are not the same, the tests present some
difficulties, workflow inefficiencies and redundancies. Ultimately, the time gained by sub-dividing
of tasks might easily be lost into retesting.
Moreover, OPERCOMTM is based upon field experience. Every two/three years, a new revision
of OPERCOMTM includes more and more requirements, making the philosophy too restrictive
and the regulations hard to follow.
Nevertheless, OPERCOMTM seems to fit very well to the new oil & gas project tendency, which
consists in overlapping the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning phases in
order to effectively optimize the project development and reduce the completion period.

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REFERENCES
TOTAL S.A. 2013. GS EP EXP 101 Pre-commissioning & Commissioning Specification rev.6.
Paris
TOTAL S.A. 2013. GS EP EXP 103 Pre-commissioning & Commissioning Engineering rev.6.
Paris
TOTAL S.A. 2013. GS EP EXP 105 Pre-commissioning Execution rev.6. Paris
TOTAL S.A. 2013. GS EP EXP 107 Commissioning Execution rev.6. Paris

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lng-project-australia?xtmc=ICHTHYS&xtnp=1&xtcr=1]

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APPENDIX 1

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APPENDIX 2

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APPENDIX 3

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