Teesside Gas Processing Plant
Overview
The Teesside Gas Processing Plant ("TGPP") is located at Seal Sands on Teesside in northeast England. The plant processes gas from the UK Central North Sea and from the northern part of the Southern Gas Basin for a number of large multi-national energy companies and has the capability to process up to 6% of UK demand for gas.
TGPP is a highly efficient and flexible gas processing plant which has, since construction, been operated and managed to world class standards by the same highly motivated and proficient team. The plant consists of two gas processing trains with a combined capacity to process up to 675 million cubic feet of gas per day. Operational availability since start-up has been in excess of 99.5% and the plant has an exemplary safety record.
Gas from the UK Central North Sea is transported to TGPP via the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) offshore pipeline system. TGPP also processes gas from the INEOS operated Breagh field in the Southern Gas Basin and controls the day-to-day operations of the normally unmanned offshore platform, Breagh Alpha, and pipeline on behalf of the operator. Gas is transported to reception and processing facilities at TGPP via a 110 km pipeline from the Breagh Alpha platform.
The Teesside region is one of the largest chemical and industrial regions in Europe. Once dominated by ICI group companies, the region is now home to a diverse number of businesses centered on three main areas, Wilton, Billingham and North Tees. An extensive network of pipelines and utility services connect the areas creating an infrastructure that continues to attract petrochemical and energy intensive businesses to the region.
TGPP is located right in the heart of the region in the North Tees area together with the ConocoPhillips operated Norsea oil processing terminal, the Kellas operated CATS terminal and a number of other major hydrocarbon processing industries including an aromatics facility operated by SABIC. The Wilton Site, now managed by Sembcorp, has a number of resident process plants. Billingham is home to a number of businesses including the CF Fertilizers agrichemicals plant.
Benefits of gas processing at TGPP
NSMP's commitment to the operation and ongoing development of TGPP not only offers customers a world class gas processing service but can also deliver the following significant benefits.
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Independence
With NSMP's business being focused on midstream infrastructure, TGPP's primary business is processing of third-party gas and delivering the same high quality and flexible service for all our users.
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Deep Liquids recovery
Historically, on an energy equivalent basis, propane, butane and condensate products have had higher value than sales gas. TGPP’s technology (including the use of turbo-expander compressors) and metallurgy allows the plant to operate at temperatures of between -65° C and -70° C. For the UK Central North Sea users using the CATS pipeline this technology, together with additional separators with enhanced separation technology added in 2012 and additional upgrades to the turbo-expander compressors carried out in 2016, now provides an average liquid extraction rate of around 11-14% (measured on an energy basis). This additional liquid recovery can generate significant additional revenue for customers.
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Flexibility
From the structure of the operating team to the flexibility of the physical equipment, TGPP has been set up to optimise its processing service to match the dynamic requirements of our customers, upstream and downstream businesses.
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Performance Record
TGPP’s various awards across all elements of its business highlights that the operations team strives not only to achieve best in class standards for performance and plant availability, but that this is achieved with world class performance in relation to quality, health, safety and environmental management.
Plant Capability
The Teesside Gas Processing Plant consists of two gas processing trains with a combined capacity to process up to 675 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Gas processed at TGPP originates from oil and gas fields in the UK Central North Sea. It is transported to the Teesside Gas Processing Plant via the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) pipeline and from the Breagh pipeline.
Third-Party Access
Ullage
At present, TGPP has the following capacity available to new customers
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central North Sea Capacity | ||||
| Southern North Sea Capacity |
User Gas Specification
Please find below the specification for user gas delivered to TGPP from the CATS Pipeline.
Natural Gas delivered by the User to the Processor for processing under this Agreement shall be technically free from objectionable odours, materials, dust, sand, or other solid or liquid matter (other than the Associated Liquids specified below), drilling muds, acidising fluids, fracturing fluids, proppants, foaming agents, excessive dissolved solids, waxes, gums and gum forming constituents which might cause injury or interference with the proper operation of the TGPP and/or the TGPP Liquid Pipelines or which could be expected to remain in Gas and interfere with the proper operation of the lines, meters, regulators or other appliances through which it flows.
| Water Dewpoint | Max | 7,500 KPa gauge @min 15 deg |
| Water Content | Max | 15kg per million Cubic Metres |
| Hydrocarbon Dewpoint | Max | 9,340 KPa gauge @ minus 2 deg C |
| Total Sulphur | Max | 14.4 ppm vol (expressed as H2S) |
| Hydrogen Sulphide | Max | 3.0 ppm (by volume) |
| Carbonyl Sulphide | Max | 1.0 ppm (by volume) |
| Methyl+ethyl Mercaptan Sulphur | Max | 0.5 ppm (by volume) |
| Total Mercaptan Sulphur | Max | 3.1 ppm (by volume) |
| Carbon Dioxide | Max | 2.8% mol |
| Oxygen | Max | 9.0 ppm vol |
| Nitrogen | Max | 4.5% mol |
| Temperature | Max | 51 deg C |
| Mercury | Max | 0.01 ug / m3 |
| Non-hydrocarbon content | Max | 5.5 mol% |
Pipeline Fluids Delivery Specification
In order to meet this specification, Pipeline Fluids delivered by the User to the Processor for processing under this Agreement shall be commercially free from objectionable odours, radioactivity, materials, dust, sand, or other solid or liquid matter (other than the Associated Liquids specified below), drilling muds, acid ising fluids, fracturing fluids, proppants, foaming agents, excessive dissolved solids, waxes, gums and gum forming constituents which might cause injury or interference with the proper operation of the TGPP and/or the TGPP Liquid Pipelines or which could be expected to remain in Natural Gas and interfere with the proper operation of the lines, meters, regulators or other appliances through which it flows.
| Methane Content | Min | 80 mol% |
| Gas Calorific Value | Min | 37.5 MJ/m3 |
| Max | 42.3 MJ/m3 | |
| Wobbe Index | Min | 47.5 MJ/m3 |
| Max | 51.2 MJ/m3 | |
| Total Sulphur | Max | 14.4 ppm vol (expressed as H2S) |
| Hydrogen Sulphide | Max | 3 ppm (by volume) |
| Carbonyl Sulphide | Max | 1 ppm (by volume) |
| Methyl+Ethyl Mercaptan Sulphur | Max | 0.5 ppm (by volume) |
| Total Mercaptan Sulphar | Max | 3.1 ppm (by volume) |
| Carbon Dioxide | Max | 2.8% mol |
| Oxygen | Max | 9 ppm vol |
| Nitrogen | Max | 4.5% mol |
| Temperature | Max | 15 deg C |
| Mercury | Max | 5ng/m3 |
| Non-Hydrocarbon Content | Max | 5.5 mol% |
| Propane + Content (C3+) | Max | 2 mol% |
| Heptane + Content (C7+) | Max | 0.5 mol% |
| Pressure* | Max | 85 bar gauge |
Operational Excellence & Plant Awards
TGPP is justifiably proud of its operational excellence. We have been accredited to Environmental Compliance Standard ISO 14001 since 1997 and achieved ISO 9001 Quality Management System accreditation in 2001. Over the years we have achieved a number of significant milestones and awards for safety and environmental performance. Some of these are listed below:
- 0 px staff LTI since inception
- 3 RIDDOR Incidents in 24 years
- Zero environmental exceedances
- > 99% availability since 1993 (excluding planned outages)
- ISO 14001 Environmental Compliance Standard Received a National Training Award in recognition of exceptional training and best practice
- Achieved RoSPA Gold Award for last 22 years & Presidents Award
- RoSPA Order of Distinction in 2017 for 22 successive gold awards
- Achieved Investors In People Award
- ISO 9001 Quality Management System accreditation
- Rolls Royce Worldwide HSE Award
In addition, in 2005, the Teesside Gas Processing Plant gained an award from the Juran Institute for the overall best in class gas processing terminal. This was the result of a benchmarking exercise by Juran of sixteen worldwide gas terminals and further demonstrates the operational excellence of TGPP.
