据管道新闻网10月28日消息称,能源公司Renergen表示已委托建设南非第一家商业LNG和液氦工厂,并委托EPCM Bonisana安装管道和管理接口。
EPCM在一份正式声明中说:“我们期待看到Renergen和WSCE让南非的液态天然气和液态氦成为现实。”
弗吉尼亚州天然气项目将使南非成为非洲唯一的商用氦生产商,也是世界上与美国和卡塔尔一起出口天然气资源的8个国家之一。
EPCM此前将项目价值定为3200万美元,该公司表示,天然气收集部门已经完成工程设计,其中包括31英里(50公里)的地下HDPE管道网络、井口安装、压缩和脱水站以及母站,其中母站包括主处理设施。
今年2月,美国政府的海外私人投资公司(OPIC)批准了一笔4000万美元的贷款,为该项目提供资本。此前,该公司宣布,在自由州发现了高达11%浓度的氦储量。
该项目计划从2021年开始运营,计划日产645.3吨液化天然气和350公斤氦气。
除此之外,氦被用于冷却医用磁共振成像(MRI)扫描仪中的超导磁体,可以用作气球和飞艇中的升浮气体,可以用作深海潜水中的呼吸气体以及保持卫星仪器的冷却。
曹海斌 摘译自 管道新闻网
原文如下:
EPCM to Build Pipelines for South Africa's First LNG and Helium Plant
Energy company Renergen said it has commissioned South Africa’s first commercial LNG and liquid helium plant and appointed EPCM Bonisana to install the pipeline and manage the interface.
“We look forward to seeing Renergen and WSCE making liquid natural gas and liquid helium in South Africa a reality,” EPCM said in an official statement.
The Virginia Gas Project will position South Africa as the only African commercial helium producer and one of eight countries in the world exporting the natural resource alongside the United States and Qatar.
EPCM, which earlier placed the project value at $32 million, said engineering design has been completed on the Gas Gathering Section, which includes 31 miles (50 km) of underground HDPE pipeline network, wellhead installations, and compression and dehydration stations, as well as the Mother Station, which includes the main processing facility.
The U.S government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) approved a $40 million loan in February this year to provide capital for the project after the company announced it had discovered reserves of up to 11% helium concentrations in the Free State province.
The project is planned to be operational from 2021, with a planned daily production of 645.3 tonnes of LNG and 350 kg of helium.
Helium is used, among other things, to cool superconducting magnets in medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, as a lifting gas in balloons and airships, as a gas to breathe in deep-sea diving and to keep satellite instruments cool.