Rolls-Royce Upgrade for China’s West-East Gas Pipeline

A new gas turbine compression set and compressor upgrade, scheduled to be operational by the end of 2009, will increase the number of Rolls-Royce RB211 gas turbine compressor packages on China’s west-east gas pipeline project (WEPP) to 16.

The contract for a third industrial RB211 gas turbine compression package at the Lunnan compressor station one was awarded by PetroChina West-East Pipeline Company earlier this year.

It includes upgrading two Rolls-Royce RFBB-36 gas compressors already operating at the on the 3,900 km/2,400 mile line from the West Gobi desert to Shanghai.

The WEPP pipeline extends from the Tarim basin across ten Chinese provinces and at its capacity of 17bcm per year, it delivers enough gas to satisfy the needs of more than 200 million people.

Tom Curley, president of the Rolls-Royce energy business, said: “We are very proud of our performance on the WEPP project, with all our equipment having been delivered on time, to schedule and on budget. This additional order confirms the confidence PetroChina has in Rolls-Royce and our equipment.”

Rolls-Royce announced the original order for 12 RB211 gas turbine compressor packages and five variable speed motor-driven compressor sets for phase one of the project in February 2004. Three more RB211 gas turbine compressor packages and seven compressor upgrades were ordered in September 2005.

All 15 RB211 packages, five variable speed motor-driven compressor sets and seven compressor upgrades are operating successfully on the pipeline, where total Rolls-Royce operating experience now exceeds 160,000 hours, with one engine recording over 16,000 hours.