Location:	Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom Northeast coast of Italy
Order Date:	2005
Completion:	2007
Industry:	LNG Supply Chain

The demand for natural gas is growing rapidly. Experts predict more than a tripling of the demand by 2025. As a consequence, LNG facilities are under pressure to deliver not just now, but well into the future. To meet this demand, LNG terminals require exceptionally reliable field proven process automation solutions supported for at least 15 years and preferably even longer. Yokogawa has completed full automation projects for two new large terminals in Europe: the South Hook LNG terminal near Milford Haven, Wales, in the United Kingdom and the Adriatic LNG terminal located off the northeast coast of Italy. The company has designed and supplied full automation systems for the two terminals.

“Yokogawa has been appointed to these ExxonMobil/Qatargas projects on the basis that the company can provide the highest standards of reliability in all systems to ensure throughput of gas for an extended time,” commented Marcel Kelder, Yokogawa's International Account Manager. “Ensuring reliability, seamless linking of small to large systems, easy engineering, long-term support and supply of maintenance parts, Yokogawa has worked from its long standing and extensive expertise in the LNG supply chain to form a solid basis for design of the two terminals,” he added.

The South Hook LNG terminal includes a ship unloading system, five full containment 155,000 m3 LNG storagetanks, and a regasification and send-out system. The Adriatic LNG terminal has a unique offshore storage capacity of 250,000 m3 in tanks in its concrete substructure. It can regasify approximately six million metric tons of LNG per year.

Owners of LNG terminals are subject to compliance with a great many laws, regulations, standards, and guidelines to prevent and lessen the consequences of LNG releases. These comprehensive requirements influence design, construction, operation, and maintenance of any LNG facility.

With four established global centers, Yokogawa's expertise includes specific knowledge of LNG terminal automation. Yokogawa safety consultants are often involved in even the earliest stages of development, participating, for example, in HAZAP studies and SIL studies. In the South Hook and Adriatic LNG terminals, Yokogawa participated in SIL studies and carried out the SIL loop calculations for the customer.

Yokogawa has designed and supplied full automation systems for the two terminals, incorporating a distributed control system (DCS), emergency shutdown (ESD) system, fire & gas (F&G) system, fire & gas (F&G) devices, asset management system, data historian system, operator training simulator, and field devices.

The basis of both LNG terminal solutions is Yokogawa's CENTUM CS 3000 R3 DCS system, which is considered the most reliable process automation system on the market. While in these cases the DCS has been installed as a new system, the CENTUM CS 3000 R3 features an open architecture, flexibility, and compatibility with any existing systems.

As LNG engineering procurement construction (EPC) projects have increased in size and complexity, owners have increasingly employed Yokogawa during front end engineering design (FEED) activities, utilizing Yokogawa's extensive experience in the LNG supply chain automation.

In managing and operating LNG terminals effectively, terminal owners are frequently faced with the need to train and retrain staff in order to maintain competitiveness and maximize efficiency and safety. It can be very difficult for LNG owners to find experienced operators, and so need to train their own operators. An experienced operator requires only training on the system and not the process. However, inexperienced operators also need to be trained in process behaviors and specific operator scenarios.

In the South Hook and Adriatic LNG terminals, Yokogawa's OmegaLand plant training simulator helps to reduce costs, optimize LNG terminal processes, and improve reliability by training operator staff in trouble-free start-up and load operation, prior to real plant operation. By establishing a network connection between OmegaLand and an actual DCS (the CENTUM CS 3000), it is possible for operators to receive realistic training in a virtual environment. Training is available for procedures such as plant startup and load change, abnormal conditions such as an instrument or equipment failure, and emergencies such as earthquakes, fires and runaway reactions. Because the simulator uses exactly the same algorithms as the actual control system, individuals can be fully trained to respond to emergencies, however rare, that could lead to a plant shutdown.

LNG is liquefied natural gas and the cleanest fossil fuel. Liquefying natural gas reduces its volume by a factor of 600, making it economically viable to transport it across large distances by ship and store it. On land, LNG is stored in large specially designed insulated storage tanks. In order to export the LNG to the national gas network and to users, it is regasified by heating it in a regasification unit.

Yokogawa has outstanding capabilities in the LNG field. Our commitment to innovation in LNG projects worldwide dates back to the 1970s. With extensive experience in this field and a comprehensive portfolio of solutions, Yokogawa achieves operational excellence in the LNG supply chain. Yokogawa's VigilantPlant delivers visibility, predictability and agility for every phase of the LNG business from liquefaction to LNG carriers and degasification.