MURRAY HILL &NEW PROVIDENCE, US: The Linde Group said that it has signed a contract with Pemex Exploracion y Produccion (PEP), a subsidiary of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), to extend its supply of high-pressure, high-purity nitrogen to Pemex’s oil reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico through 2027.
Cia de Nitrogeno de Cantarell SA de CV (CNC), the local Linde affiliate, is now supplying a total of 1,500 million cubic feet (50,000 metric tonne) of nitrogen per day from the nitrogen plant located on the Atasta Peninsula, near Ciudad del Carmen in the State of Campeche to maintain pressure at the Cantarell and Ku Maloob Zaap oil reservoirs.
The nitrogen at the Linde plant is produced in five air separation units, using atmospheric air as input to an ultra-low temperature cryogenic process that separates the pure nitrogen from the oxygen and other minor components. The nitrogen is subsequently pressurized to 1740 psi (120 bar) for delivery via steel pipelines over 60 miles (100 kilometres) to the Pemex off-shore fields. The energy required to run the nitrogen production process is generated on site using five natural gas fed, super-efficient, combined-cycle power generation units.
“We have been providing uninterrupted nitrogen to the Cantarell project since the year 2000 and are proud to be a trusted business partner of PEMEX in one of the world's largest EOR projects,” said Tom Blades, member of the executive board of Linde AG.
“We’ve continually upgraded our facilities and added new capacity to keep up with PEP's oil production demands,” said Pat Murphy, president of Linde Americas. “Our facility is now the largest nitrogen plant in the world.”
Over the next months and years, Linde plans to invest
additional capital to continually upgrade the facilities to ensure and maintain reliability of its nitrogen supply to optimize oil production. The Pemex goal is to recover 800 million barrels of oil in the next 11 years via this EOR process.
“We believe our ongoing investments will generate substantial economic activity in the neighbouring communities, as well as overall economic benefit for the State of Campeche,” Murphy said.
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