Pumps and Skids for Oil Pipeline in Gabon

Fifteen pumps and two pump skids were delivered to the French oil and gas concern Maurel et Prom. They are used in an oil field in Gabon, where they transport crude oil more than 140km, clean the pipeline with high-pressure water, and help treat the oil and improve its flow properties. The delivery included nine Allweiler progressing cavity pumps (AE 1+1N 5000 and AE 2+2 H 2700), six Warren two-screw pumps (2030 FSXA), and two complete pumping stations from Imo. All of these systems are used in the pipeline between the oil field in Onal and the refinery in Coucal. According to Daniel Joslin, Managing Director of Colfax Imo Pompes, the choice to install a series of screw and progressing cavity pumps in the pipeline is an unusual but highly effective solution. The screw pumps act as pipeacceleration pumps to move up to 30,000 barrels of crude oil over a distance of more than 140km every day. They also have the ability to clean the pipeline by pumping 50m3 of water per hour at a pressure of 50 bar. The crude oil obtained from this oilfield is unusu ally viscous. Viscosity fluctuates from 30 to 1380cp at a temperature of approximately 25 to 60°C. Among other substances, the crude oil contains up to 10% water by volume and up to 33.6% paraffin. Five warming stations in the pipeline minimize heat losses in order to maintain the product’s ability to flow. These stations are equipped with the progressing cavity pumps. Besides the temperature challenge, the oil must also be cleansed of foreign matter before entering the pipeline. This is performed in a treatment and cleaning system that is also fed by a progressing cavity pump. Two additional pumps are installed for cleaning purposes on the refinery-side of the pipeline. The pumps comply with all API 676 and ATEX requirements. All performance tests were conducted jointly with the customer. Dr. Michael Matros, Chairman of Allweiler AG: “Colfax pumps have been proven around the world in extremely challenging oil applications. The customer Maurel et Prom placed a high value on our ability to provide a complete proposal that involves several pump types designed to work together. They were also impressed with our extensive technical support.” Back in early 2008, two complete systems have been delivered for the same project: one based on a progressing cavity pump for emptying a tank filled with a water/crude mixture and another that uses three centrifugal pumps for firefighting.