Groundbirch 6-19 Plant 2025 - 60 mmscfd

The 6-19 gas plant was a 30mmscfd facility when I first took the asset over when Strath Resources merged with Cona Resources.

It was a bit of an oddball with redundant amine trains, redundant refrigeration trains, VRUs, tanks, etc. but an inlet gas stream close to 96% methane with no H2S. The inlet gas stream was so lean, that no hydrocarbon liquids dropped out to create a hydrocarbon level in the LTS even at -29°C.

In regular person terms this means that when they first designed the facility they were expecting a much different gas stream. They committed in a very big, very expensive way to process a sour hydrocarbon rich gas stream. Without either of those things in the inlet gas stream, the refrigeration process was just an expensive to operate dehydrator, and the amine system used only for the first filter on the skid and then back out.

For the assets first real big leap in the direction towards maximum capital efficiency we first increased capacity by another 10mmscfd for only $1.5mm. This was accomplished by relocating company owned equipment, and minor modifications within the refridge system, and leveraging well deliverability.

Going from 40-60mmscfd the original proposals I came across involved adding 3 additional compressors to match the existing layout with 2 boosters and one sales unit.

After spending a healthy amount of personal time running different cylinder combinations, I was able to come up with a plan that added close to 1700 more compression horsepower without adding a single compressor. This cut off north of $10 million dollars, kept the plot plan completely open for future expansion, and allowed the project to be completed on a much tighter timeline.

The compressor frames could handle the power, the piping and other components had to be evaluated, but this was all primarily possible with Waukesha 1900 horsepower S5 conversions to the two onsite 5774 powered booster compressors (1200hp at the time) and the 7042 powered sales compressor. For those not familiar, the S5 conversion engine swaps change to a more thermally efficient Miller cycle. The project lowered NOx even with more horsepower, better thermal efficiency, reduced noise vs. the 5774s, and no additional point source of emissions.

The compressor modifications were complimented with the installation of a surplus dehy that was almost new condition, and allowed us to disconnect the refridge systems and the associated high horsepower refridge compressors. This lowered on-site power requirements, reduce genset loading, and again reduced emissions, etc..

Stepping back and thinking about different way to execute the project ended up a win in so many ways, and proud to have been part of it.

Peak rates well over 60mmscfd were achieved as there was some headroom in the design to overperform depending on how you were feeding the plant.

Best wishes to Tourmaline on their continued development of the asset and unlocking the potential that is there.