OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2008.   The Abo Rabah field in the Syrian Arab Republic has entered exploitation, supplying gas to the Arab Gas Pipeline. 

“Conclusion of an essential phase of another large-scale project for development of Syrian gas fields and construction of gas processing plants is quite an event,” Chairman of the Management Board of Stroytransgaz Vyacheslav Makhonin declared. “Stroytransgaz has substantiated its reputation as a professional, responsible contractor with an appreciable portfolio of orders for construction in the oil and gas industry in Russia and beyond its boundaries.”

Stroytransgaz and the Syrian Gas Company signed a contract for development of the Abo Rabah, N. Al Faid, and Qomqom fields and construction of the GPP-1 gas processing plant in December 2005. The contract was concluded on EPC terms. GPP-1, whose commissioning is targeted for 2009, will have annual production capacity of 2.2 billion cubic meters of purified gas, 23,000 tons of liquefied propane-butane, and 234,000 cubic meters of gas condensate.

Work that Stroytransgaz is to carrying out under the contract includes developing well sites and building preliminary gas separation stations at all three fields, constructing flowlines from wells to gas gathering stations and further to the gas processing plant and the Arab Gas Pipeline, building access roads, and constructing other facilities for the gas processing plant. The project also call for assembling the main processing facilities of GPP-1, including blocks for separation and drying gas, purifying it of sulfur compounds, and deriving liquefied propane-butane and condensate. In all, Stroytransgaz will assemble 465 units of primary technical equipment, lay 135.8 kilometers of pipeline, and build 15 kilometers of roads.

The plant facilities under construction are situated in Syria’s central region, 70 kilometers west of the city of Palmyra and 50 kilometers east of Homs.

A good part of the work has already been completed: engineering work for GPP-1’s main and support buildings, assembly of basic equipment, and laying flowlines. Work is currently underway to assemble and connect pipelines to the main processing facilities and complete power supply objects for GPP-1.