ExxonMobil Begins Construction and Awards Contracts for Hawkins Gas Plant Expansion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) has mobilized contractors and is beginning the civil construction phase at the company's Hawkins, Texas, natural gas-processing plant. ExxonMobil plans to spend an estimated $300 million to modernize and restructure the plant and produce more nitrogen to be injected into the Hawkins field for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. ExxonMobil has awarded several contracts for the scope of work at Hawkins, which will include increasing the volumes of sales gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and crude oil that the Hawkins field and plant produce and process.

ExxonMobil has awarded the contract to supply a nitrogen recovery unit with the capacity to process 140 million cubic feet per day of gas to Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE:APD) (Allentown, Pennsylvania). In a separate agreement, ExxonMobil awarded Praxair Incorporated (NYSE:PX) (Danbury, Connecticut) the contract to build, own and operate an air-separation unit to supply an additional volume of nitrogen for EOR operations at Hawkins. Praxair will produce 85 million cubic feet per day of high-pressure nitrogen and additional quantities of liquid argon. ExxonMobil also awarded PSM (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) the construction contract for a new electrical substation and the electrical distribution infrastructure at Hawkins, which will provide electricity to run 50,000 horsepower of electric-driven compression to be installed as a part of the Hawkins project. The Golden, Colorado, office of Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated (NYSE:JEC) (Pasadena, California) will perform engineering, procurement and construction maintenance services.

The scope of the work at the Hawkins plant will entail shutting down the aging lean oil plant and installing new equipment, including the NRU, to create a 25 million-cubic-foot-per-day sales gas stream by removing the nitrogen from the natural gas stream that currently represents 60% of the volume. ExxonMobil will also install a de-butanizer to increase production of NGL from the present 1,500 barrels per day (BBL/d) to between 4,000 and 5,000 BBL/d. With the addition of five new compressor packages totaling 50,000 horsepower of electric-driven compression, ExxonMobil most likely will retire the 12 existing compression units. Nitrogen-injection facilities will tie the plant into the existing field and allow ExxonMobil to continue to produce 6,500 BBL/d of crude oil through nitrogen-injection EOR.

Construction activities began at the site in January 2010, and ExxonMobil expects to continue awarding the remaining packages, such as the instrumentation and electrical work for the Hawkins plant, over the next few months. Completion of the Hawkins project is scheduled for mid to late 2011.

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